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How To Determine Paternity Of A Foetus?

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Posted on Wed, 4 Nov 2015
Question: Hello. I have a question about pregnancies. My ex was pregnant, but unfortunately she had the child prematurely. The baby is in intensive care. She claims it's my baby. But the doctors say she's been pregnant for 25 weeks, and the first time we had sex without a condom was the 28th May this year. If we count today (14 Oct) that's exactly 20 weeks. There is a 5 week gap between the first time we had sex without a condom and how long she's been pregnant. is it clinically possible? thank you
doctor
Answered by Dr. Nidhi Setia (2 hours later)
Brief Answer:
need more details.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to HCM.
I can understand your concerns.

How did the doctor tell the age of baby?
What was her last menstrual period date?
The age of baby is counted by last menstrual period.

You had intercourse on 28th may.
Assuming she has regular menses and 28 day cycle, the age of baby should be 22 weeks.

Butif the periods are irregular, there is a possibility that the intercourse you had earlier could have caused pregnancy.

The exact estimation could be done after knowing last menstual period date.

Kindly revert with your answers.

Hope it helps.

Thanks.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Neel Kudchadkar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Nidhi Setia (56 minutes later)
Hello,
Yes, she actually does have irregular menstrual cycles. But before the 28th May we ALWAYS stayed protected with condoms. So the earliest day should be the 28th May, right? As far as her last menstrual cycle, she told me did not remember, the initial estimations were made with Ultrasounds.
But does this mean it is more likely that the baby was conceived before the 28th May?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Nidhi Setia (21 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Difficult to estimate with confidence due to irregular periods.

Detailed Answer:
Hello again.

Sorry for late response.

Female conceives if she has intercourse around ovulation time.

In your case, you had intercourse on 28th may that If we consider that she was ovulating at that time, her LMP would have been atleast 14 days before.

Now as you have mentioned that her periods were irregular, her LMP might have been well before those 14 days (say 20 days or more).
This might have led to mismatch between your calculation about her gestational age and timing if intercourse.

However, the most confirmatory way would be DNA matching.

Hope this answers your query.
Regards.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Nidhi Setia

OBGYN

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 761 Questions

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How To Determine Paternity Of A Foetus?

Brief Answer: need more details. Detailed Answer: Hello Welcome to HCM. I can understand your concerns. How did the doctor tell the age of baby? What was her last menstrual period date? The age of baby is counted by last menstrual period. You had intercourse on 28th may. Assuming she has regular menses and 28 day cycle, the age of baby should be 22 weeks. Butif the periods are irregular, there is a possibility that the intercourse you had earlier could have caused pregnancy. The exact estimation could be done after knowing last menstual period date. Kindly revert with your answers. Hope it helps. Thanks.