Kate Middleton's Last Days of Pregnancy: Expert Weighs In on Due Dates and Whether Royal Baby Is More Likely to Be a Boy

Dr. Peter Weiss, director and founder of The Rodeo Drive Women's Health Center, says Duchess of Cambridge is well within her due date range

By Lindsay Good Jul 18, 2013 7:52 PMTags
Kate Middleton, Duchess of CambridgePress Association via AP Images

Kate Middleton's due date has apparently come and gone. Or has it?

Sure, while some (OK, make that everyone) pretty much expected the Duchess of Cambridge to give birth to the royal baby last weekend, it turns out there's actually a bit of flexibility when it comes to a child making its grand entrance.

"A woman's due date is plus or minus two weeks," Dr. Peter Weiss, Director and Founder of The Rodeo Drive Women's Health Center, tells E! News. "If Kate's due date is July 14, then she realistically can wait until the 28th. There is a 28-day window (2 weeks either side) in which a woman can give birth and technically not be overdue. A woman's due date is also known as an EDC, which stands for estimated date of confinement. Note the word 'estimated.'"

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What's more, when a woman is near her due date, Dr. Weiss says "she will see her physician twice a week," during which time "a non-stress test and other tests (i.e. fluid evaluation) are performed to ensure mom and baby are healthy. A non-stress test essentially monitors the heart rate of the baby."

As for inducing labor, Dr. Weiss notes that "doctors try not to induce a woman before 39 weeks unless there's a medical indication to do so. Most doctors try to avoid inducing if at all possible, preferring the process to happen naturally. A woman can be induced any time after the 39-week mark, but that decision will be made by the parents and the doctor. There are also a number of scenarios as to why a doctor will induce due to complications of either mom or baby."

Dr. Weiss adds that a mom-to-be can experience prodromal labor, which Weiss likes to call "little labor but not enough to put you into labor." The parents and doctor, though, may wait a few days, then decide whether to induce.

Then there's the million-dollar question—Is Middleton having a boy or a girl?

Well, according to Dr. Weiss, at this point "it's still 50/50."

As for the belief that firstborns are simply never on time, Dr. Weiss shoots down that theory.

He also insists that while London is going through a bit of a heat wave right now, a rising thermometer "is not a factor" when it comes to the stork's arrival.

Here's hoping that stork is getting closer!