Days until the baby's due date

What this countdown does

The weeks of a pregnancy go quickly and slowly at once. This countdown shows the days remaining to the due date and breaks them into weeks and days, which is the more useful of the two numbers — appointments, leave and everything you have to organise are scheduled in weeks, not in one long day count.

How to use it

1. Enter the estimated due date.
2. Read the days remaining at the top.
3. Check the weeks-and-days breakdown and the weekday it falls on.
4. Use Share to send the live countdown to family and friends.

Where the due date comes from

The first estimate is usually 40 weeks — 280 days — from the first day of the last period. An early dating scan then measures the baby directly, and where the two disagree it is normally the scan that stands. If you have been given two dates, enter the one your midwife or doctor is using, because that is the date every other appointment will be planned around.

One thing that confuses almost everybody: because the count runs from the last period rather than from conception, you are already counted as about two weeks pregnant at the moment of conception. That is why the weeks in your notes can look two ahead of what you expected.

The due date is a midpoint, not a deadline

Only around one baby in twenty arrives on the due date itself. Arriving a week or two either side is ordinary, and clinicians describe that whole span in bands rather than as early or late:

• Early term — 37 weeks 0 days to 38 weeks 6 days
• Full term — 39 weeks 0 days to 40 weeks 6 days
• Late term — 41 weeks 0 days to 41 weeks 6 days
• Post-term — 42 weeks 0 days and beyond

So a countdown that reaches zero has not run out of anything. It means you have reached the middle of the range the baby was always most likely to arrive in.

The dates that fall before the birth

In the UK maternity leave can normally start 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, which is the earliest date worth marking on a countdown — and if the baby comes early, leave usually starts automatically. In the United States there is no federal paid entitlement; the Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, and anything beyond that depends on your state and your employer. Check your own entitlement early, because notice periods are involved.

How the days are counted

The count is in whole calendar days from today to the date you enter, calculated in UTC so it never drifts with time zones or daylight saving. If the due date has already passed, the count shows how many days ago it was.