It's the second question anyone asks after saying, "I'm pregnant!" Turns out, there are many ways to answer how far along you are. Let's take a look.
Measuring Your Pregnancy
How Many Weeks?
Many people first report their pregnancy progress in weeks. The date and progress of your pregnancy is measured from the start date of your last menstrual period (LMP). The week of your last period before finding out you're pregnant is technically considered the first week of pregnancy even though you aren't actually pregnant at that time. This dating method is easier to use since it's practically impossible to know the exact date of when sperm met egg. Even if you know when you ovulated or when sperm was introduced, it's impossible to know when conception occurred since sperm can live in the uterus up to five days.
Pregnancy lasts around 40 weeks, give or take. Since the body doesn't stick to deadlines or guidelines, 40 weeks is just an estimate. Many people give birth before or after that time. First-time parents often go into labor closer to 41 weeks.
How Many Months?
The average calendar month is 4-5 weeks, but a pregnancy month is always exactly 4 weeks. If you're 32 weeks pregnant, you would say you're 8 months pregnant even if some of the calendar months were closer to 5 weeks long.
Weeks into Months, Months into Trimesters
It wasn't enough to count a pregnancy by weeks or months -- we had to introduce trimesters! A trimester is a period of 3 months, and each pregnancy contains 3 trimesters. Each trimester marks a different developmental stage of your baby's growth in utero. Often, there are a different set of symptoms attributed to each of the trimesters, too.
Putting It All Together
We created a handy little chart to help you identify exactly where you are in your pregnancy in weeks, months, and trimesters.
As soon as you find out you're pregnant, you'll probably start counting nine months on your fingers to figure out when your baby will be born. But then your healthcare provider might mention that you're likely to go into labor once your 40 weeks along, and things don't seem to line up, because 40 weeks sounds more like 10 months.
Your gestational period is in fact 40 weeks long, but it starts counting on the first day of your last period. You aren't actually pregnancy during weeks 1 and 2, and by the time you see a positive result on a pregnancy test, you are already considered four weeks pregnant. The first month has already passed!
You can count your gestational period in weeks or months. Your healthcare provider will use weeks, but you might start using months in conversation when you get further along. Your friends and coworkers might find "I'm 8 months," easier to understand than "I'm 32 to weeks."
In this article, we explain how to figure out how many weeks or months along you are throughout your pregnancy.
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Pregnancy Weeks vs. Months
Planning for a nine-month pregnancy can be confusing if you look at the total number of weeks in the average pregnancy. When you break down the numbers, it would seem that pregnancy lasts 10 months, not nine.
There are about 40 weeks in a full-term pregnancy. If you assume that a month is exactly four weeks long, that makes 10 months of pregnancy. The problem with this calculation is that it assumes that each month lasts 28 days. But most of our calendar months last 30 or 31 days.
To confuse matters even more, there is also the issue of when you actually became pregnant. While an exact date may not matter to everyone, you can estimate the date based on testing. By the time you have a positive pregnancy test, you are usually about four weeks pregnant.
The truth is that a full-term pregnancy lasts between nine and 10 months. To establish clarity about your stage of pregnancy and estimated due date, your practitioner will track your pregnancy in weeks rather than months.
Pregnancy Trimesters
While you might explain your pregnancy in weeks or months, many expectant moms also describe their pregnancy in trimesters. Each trimester lasts about 12–13 weeks. There are three trimesters in a full-term pregnancy.
First trimester
This early trimester usually includes weeks 1–13. This is considered a short trimester because many women don't know that they are expecting during the early weeks of pregnancy.
Second trimester
The middle trimester usually includes weeks 14–27. Many moms consider this to be the easiest and most comfortable trimester.
Third trimester
Your last trimester may include weeks 28–40. But many women go into labor before week 40 and some may stay pregnant a week or two longer.
Counting Pregnancy Weeks
Your practitioner will count your pregnancy in weeks to help them more accurately assess the health of you and your baby. If you are unclear about your pregnancy week, be sure to ask for your provider's guidance.
Once you get your estimated weeks of pregnancy, you can use that information and your due date to plot your pregnancy by week at home. To do this, note the day of the week that your baby is due. Then choose that day of the week in your current week of pregnancy and start counting forward.
For example, if your due date is on a Monday and you are currently in your fourth week of pregnancy, note that date on your calendar with "week 4." Then note that on the following Monday you'll be five weeks along. The Monday after that you would be six weeks along. Every Monday moving forward you gain a week of pregnancy, until around 40 weeks.
Counting Pregnancy Months
Understanding your pregnancy in weeks, months, and trimesters can be confusing enough. But you'll also be faced with plenty of pregnancy questions from others. When someone asks: how far along are you? It is usually easiest to reply in months. But the answer can vary.
There are different ways to lay out the months of pregnancy depending on whether you emphasize the first trimester or the last trimester. Here are some common breakdowns of the months of pregnancy.
Pregnancy by Month: Emphasis on First Trimester
This monthly breakdown assumes that early pregnancy is very important. Since many women aren't aware that they are pregnant during the first two weeks, month one is extended to six weeks.
- Month 1: Week 1 through week 6
- Month 2: Week 7 through week 11
- Month 3: Week 12 through week 16
- Month 4: Week 17 through week 20
- Month 5: Week 21 through week 24
- Month 6: Week 25 through week 28
- Month 7: Week 29 through week 32
- Month 8: Week 33 through week 36
- Month 9: Week 37+
Pregnancy by Month: Emphasis on Third Trimester
This weekly pregnancy breakdown includes every moment from the last normal menstrual cycle and considers the fact that some women have their babies earlier than forty weeks.
- Month 1: Week 1 through week 4
- Month 2: Week 5 through week 8
- Month 3: Week 9 through week 12
- Month 4: Week 13 through week 16
- Month 5: Week 17 through week 20
- Month 6: Week 21 through week 24
- Month 7: Week 25 through week 28
- Month 8: Week 29 through week 32
- Month 9: Week 33+
Pregnancy by Month: Emphasis on Length of a Month
This breakdown takes the date of your last menstrual period and counts until the same date of the subsequent months. For example:
If the date of your last menstrual period was April 17:
- Month 1: April 17 through May 16
- Month 2: May 17 through June 16
- Month 3: June 17 through July 16
- Month 4: July 17 through August 16
- Month 5: August 17 through September 16
- Month 6: September 17 through October 16
- Month 7: October 17 through November 16
- Month 8: November 17 through December 16
- Month 9: December 17+
As you can see from the three schedules, there are different ways to describe which month of pregnancy you are in based on how you interpret the weeks. There is no right or wrong way to answer when people want to know how far along you are. Simply provide the week or month you feel is appropriate for your gestational age.
A Word From Verywell
Remember that when people inquire about your pregnancy progress, there is no need to explain the difference between weeks and months. Whether you answer five months or six months on the chart above, you are still 24 weeks pregnant. Simply choose the answer that best suits you.
Sometimes you might feel very pregnant and six months makes you feel better than five months. Or, perhaps you are not anxious for the pregnancy to be over and you would prefer to be five months pregnant. This mental game is one that can help you stay sane through a potentially discombobulating time.