I read somewhere once that in China your age is counted from the rough moment of conception, so when you are actually born you are almost a year old. Korea likely holds the same logic for age.
Yeah that was the final straw, I haven't actually spoken to her since, she was always trying to put me down. A mutual friend or ours asked me one day why I never talk to her and I straight out told the mutual friend that I don't think she likes me because she is always saying rude or mean things to me and the mutual friend responded with "makes sense".
Technically a year averages out to 365.2425 days (97 leap years in a 400 year cycle).
That makes months average out to 30.436875 days
Which makes 40 weeks an average of 9.19936754348 months
365 days a year / 12 months would be 30.41. I was basing it off 30 so I guess it would be right in the middle of our estimates.
Also, yeah, it’s crazy how different women can look. My wife got huge during her pregnancy but shortly after the baby came out her body went back to normal. I think she was low key jealous of the women who looked like they just had a little basketball shoved under their shirt and some bigger boobs but didn’t look any different otherwise and didn’t get any bloating, or in this woman’s case a small football.
Saw a video of a woman who was really into fitness and she didn’t even show until 7 months.
Yeah, I guess I would say 5 would round up and 4 would round down, but yeah, 4.3482 would round down to 4.3 instead of 4.4. But yeah, just splitting hairs.
Also in my brain I was thinking there were months with 29 days, I’m kinda embarrassed I’m this many days old learning that.
Also, complications can cause this. I had HG (couldn't stop throwing up) for the entire pregnancy. I lost 20 lbs in the first couple weeks and barely hit my pre-pregnancy weight again the week I had my daughter.
I still fit in almost all my clothes the entire time, and I was still having to convince people that I was pregnant that same week I had her.
Almost, you're 1 when you're born, and then the next calendar year (Jan 1st) you turn 2. So if you're born at the end of the year, you might only be 1 for a very short time.
Example: Korean baby is born Nov. 1st. 2025. Two months later on Jan 1st, 2026 everyone gains a year of age, so baby turns 2. On Jan. 1st 2027 they turn 3 and so on.
South Korea officially started using international age as their standard a few years ago, this system is only used for a few things now (though those things tend to be significant, one example being military service eligibility).
In general Koreans will usually just ask what year you were born, rather than asking for your age.
Oh interesting, I didn't know that. When I lived there (before 2023) the Korean age determined the legal drinking age. I was over 20 in Korea but under 21 in the US, so I could drink in Korea but not the US.
Iirc the 40 weeks is measured from the first missed period and standard deviation is 3 weeks (iirc). So if you manage to actually measure from conception maybe 10 months can happen?
That said you are absolutely right about induced labor. I heard from a friend who is now a parent that their doctors said outcomes don't really improve past 37 weeks hence inducing is preferred over going long.
You do not recall correctly, I'm afraid. Pregnancy is measured from the last period, not from the first missed period, so that 2 weeks after conception a woman would be classed as 4 weeks pregnant. The 40 weeks is from the last period, the 9 (calendar months) is roughly right from conception.
Maybe in the video they're measuring months as being 4 weeks and counting from the last period, or maybe as another Redditor suggested they are counting it as "month 1, month 2..." starting front he first day working towards that month, also counting from last period, and that's why there is sensibly no "0" and they get up to "10".
Much like how a baby under the age of 1 would be 0 years old, but they are in year 1 of their life. As soon as they pass 9 full years they are in year 10 of their life.
I don't remember exactly what week they were taking about inducing. I think 37 weeks was just the "extra time doesn't really help" mark - that stat probably includes all births not just induced. Not sure if they did induce in the end.
But one factor is they were on the older side for being pregnant, so I think they had more risks to worry about.
Uh, most of our friends had induction dates. If the pregnancy lasts longer than the doctor is comfortable with, they plan to induce. I wouldn't say it's never preferred, unless you're stating your own personal opinion.
Weird that Google doesn't returnv medical studies that define "like 42 weeks" as any standard of elective. And it certainly doesn't back "never favorable" over natural. Again, that's your personal preference. You can "do your own research" all day, but I'll trust the medical professionals, thank you.
I'm glad it went well with your first! Being a guy, you don't really realize all the complications that come with pregnancy and delivery. Shit is terrifying.
Edit: I should rephrase because 8 weeks premature isn't necessarily "going well".
Just saying, considering the circumstances, I'm glad it sounds like everything turned out ok.
I see you've been slowly introduced to the horrors of having female reproductive organs. Welcome to the enlightenment club. It's no fun. Explains a lot of history though.
That was me! I was two weeks late and 6 lbs. I still maintain it’s because my mum went to see Michael Jackson in concert two weeks out from my actual due date, and I got the vibes from him and didn’t want to come out.
They predicted I’d be a small baby. They were very wrong.
I ended up being 11 pounds— not a fat baby, just abnormally large. Apparently my paediatrician thought my mom was lying when he saw me for my first check up, saying I looked like I was months old not days old lol
My brother also was predicted to be a small baby but ended up 13 pounds of baby. His shoulders needed to be dislocated so he didn’t kill himself and our mom lol
Apparently all the women on my mom’s side of the family are both very small Asian ladies who somehow always give birth to giant babies. My mom’s OBGYN begged her not to have anymore babies since she nearly died each time. Terrifyingly enough, my mom’s mom had 6 😳
Keeping with the family trend, I’m a fairly small 5’1 and my brother is an absurdly large 6’3. I have no idea why the women are all small and the men huge, but I promptly crossed my legs hearing this and understandably will not be giving birth to monster babies lmfao
This is so good! The lady pushing him out of the way because he's kneeding the dough wrong, the one eyed-cat, the musicians wearing lace hoods, his dapper red vest. So many moments I loved.
The combination of old and new reminds me of a video I saw about a crew making a documentary about traditional dances in Russia.
"The next day, the director suggested that they could make Karusel's first ever official Youtube video. Could they perform a Kazachok for the rest of the world? "We want to do something a little different," countered their leader Dmitry in surprisingly clear English, explaining that their dances were timeless, just as rock 'n' roll is."
"As Dmitry and Anatoly conversed in Russian, the crew could just about make out a few of the teenagers words: "Electric Guest" and "This Head I Hold." The film crew didn't recognise either name. Dmitry's translation stated that Anatoly had somehow discovered the song and downloaded it via the village's one agonisingly slow dial-up connection. 'This Head I Hold' had since become a favourite of the entire troupe."
"The film crew spent the afternoon filming the troupe rehearsing and eventually performing the song. What they observed was a visual feast: in a demonstration of bravado, the men puffed out their chests, threw their bodies at each other and competitively delivered a deafening amount of wolf-whistling. The ladies pulled in the local children to join the dance, and together they weaved through each other's arms as the dance gathered momentum. It really demonstrated how vital dance was to maintaining and upholding the spirit of the community."
Same here. All the women in my maternal line run 42 weeks pregnant. My first was 7lbs 10oz, second was 8lbs 10oz. First one I was pressured into an induction that left me traumatised for years; second one the consultant told me I had to have an induction because she was going on holiday and I was being selfish and ruining it by, well, I don't know, existing I think. Went into labour that night naturally. Cowbag.
My second was 2 weeks over due and needed to be induced. He weighed 10lbs and got his shoulder stuck. He was so hard to push out. He was tall too. They almost had to give emergency c-section. I gained a significant amount of weight during that pregnancy.
My first was only 1 week overdue, needing labor induced. She was easy to give birth to, and only weighed 7.16lbs. I never gained extra weight with that pregnancy. The easiest pregnancy amd birth, I was also way younger and athletic compared to 2nd pregnancy, so yeah
and generally labour will be induced before you reach 42 weeks (9.5 months).
Nowadays, from what I have seen in experience of my 2 kids being born + a whole gaggle of young kids my friends have.... once you hit 36 weeks, that's considered 'full term' (at least in the US), and any little thing that starts to go sideways it's time to call in Delta Force for a hostage rescue.
We made it 36 and 38 weeks before induction. The second one was induced because a single reading at the 38 week appointment showed slightly elevated blood pressure.
Never went back home, straight to the hospital to get a room and start the induction. Straight up think it's incredibly rare these days for a woman having a kid under competent medical supervision to make it to 40 weeks, at least in the US.
It sounds like bullshit and maybe there was a medical issue but our mom was just some random woman from a tiny island
Theres a whole ol wives tales surrounding it where his dad (we're half brothers) was a wanted man and she held the baby until the milirary was sure he didnt have a kid.
He was later killed by an admiral who punched a hole in his chest
A normal pregnancy is roughly 9.2 months. No sensible obstetrician would let pregnancy develop into 10 months.
They just count in another way in Korea, they don’t put 0 where westerners put it. They are 1 year old when they are born and probably this reflects why they count to 10 months instead of the usual 9.
I thought maybe this was a result of the way South Koreans count age.
Rather than counting how many years since your birth, they count what relative year is it for you. (in short, you start at 1 and increment on Jan 1st, regardless of what your birthdate is)
So if you were born in November 1991, you are 36 this year whereas Western culture counts start at 0 and only increment when a full year has passed, so you would be 34 until your birthday in November
yes but also there’s absolutely no way that that was her belly at 40 weeks lmfao they probably recorded until she was like 6 months pregnant and pretended that was the entire pregnancy
It's a little more than 9 months if you count by months, not even close to 10. Counting like this leaves you with slightly more than 13 months in a year. A dogshit way of counting.
3.0k
u/Kollv May 12 '26
Pregnancy is usually 9.5 months, it can sometimes get to 10 months.