44 Week Pregnancy

[david64]

Hi,

This is probably an unusual question for this forum. I am looking for insight into a pregnancy that took place 88 years ago.

Recentley, I found out of a hidden generation in my family. The people I thought were my great-grandparents were actually my great-great-grandparents; my great-grandmother being their eldest daughter, who was previously thought to be a great-aunt. Unfortunatley the birth certificate of my grandmother doesn't mention anything about the father. The only family member I could find who knew anything about this said that the father died in WWI. I looked up the soilders who died in WWI in the area where my family lived, which is rural, and there was only one person, whoes name, Francis John is a masculine version of my grandmother's name Frances Joan.

I obtained his military service documents, which list the dates that he was posted. He was posted 44 weeks before my grandmother was born; or maybe 42 weeks, but the military buffs tell me that it is the 44 weeks - there are two posted date on the military records.

From what I have read on the internet, the 44 week pregnancy is more than viable; with stories of mothers giving birth to healthy children at home wit no medical aid after 46 weeks.

My real questions are:

After intercourse, how long can it take to become pregnant? Does it happen quickly or can it take some time?

Do you think that the probable mental stress of having an illagit. child and then learning the father was killed in the war could have helped to prolong the pregnancy? i.e. is it generally thought that distress can prolong a pregnancy? Or that pregnancies that are not wanted can maybe take a bit longer?

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help identify someone who has been lost and forgotten for 88 years.

 

[Mamafy]

I believe it could be possible

I haven't the answers to all your questions but hopefully someone else might

Welcome to the Forum

 

[Toonlass]

My step mothers mam went way over due with her 2nd daughter. She estimates she was about 44-45 weeks gone when she was born but the baby was blue due to the placenta working less efficiently after the 42 week mark. In them days they didn't have scans to confirm due dates so they didn't really induce labours. I believe it is very possible to have a 44 week pregnancy, hope this helps xx

 

[titch]

yeah my great grandma was pregnant for nearly 10 months. These days they dont let you go past 2 weeks of your due date but back then they werent really induced. It is medically possible.

 

[Sam's Mum]

You have to remember that pregnancy isn't dated from conception, but from the first day of the mother's last period, which is roughly 2 weeks before conception. So pregnancy from conception to due date is 38 weeks, and while it's not uncommon for babies to be 2 weeks late or slightly more (40 weeks from conception would be 2 weeks late), it's unlikely that a pregnancy would be 44 weeks long from conception to birth, as the baby would be 6 weeks overdue. While it's probably not medically impossible, nearly all women will go into labour within the 2 weeks following their due date, and it is thought that many who go past that date do so because the dates were slightly wrong, not because the pregnancy was longer. So if he was posted 44 weeks before her birth I'd say he is unlikely to be the father, sorry.

Fewer than 5% of births occur on the due date; 50% of births are within a week of the due date, and almost 90% within 2 weeks ( ref. Dr Sally Tracy, Having a Great Birth in Australia ed. David Vernon, Australian College of Midwives, 2005, p22 - actually stolen from wiki but that's the actual reference)

Beyond 42 weeks (40 weeks from conception), the risk of complications greatly increases, which is why women are induced or closely monitored if they go that far overdue these days, so I think an extra 4 weeks on top of that are unlikely.

Sperm can only survive for 5-7 days at the most after intercourse, so even considering that I think he's probably not the father, and I've heard of stress causing premature labour but not prolonging a pregnancy. I hope you find the information you're looking for soon

 

[jellybean]

Hi there, Firstly, what an interesting story! I do hope you find the answers. Now I watched a documentary a few months back about women who wanted completely natural births with no intervention and I am pretty sure that one of the women that was filmed was 4 weeks overdue when she had the baby which would have made her 44weeks. I would imagine that so many years ago when medical intervention of pregnancies was rare, that many women went quite abit over the 40 week mark. Good luck with your research!

 

[xsophx]

the midwife at the hospital was telling us the other day in france they count pregnancey uptil 42 weeks and wont think about induceing before then! x