Q: I am a 27 year old woman with one child - 3 years old. I have got a Copper-T inserted 6 months back; now we want to have our next baby in December 2004. Which month should I conceive, basically remove the copper T. Secondly the doctor who inserted said that it was inserted on the 3rd day of my period - is it important to remove on the 3rd day of my periods again or can we remove it any time. Please also tell me how to calculate the date of birth of baby or how should we plan our baby as per our desired month of birth.

A:The copper T can be removed at any time during the cycle and not necessarily on day 3. What you have asked makes an interesting query, how did you choose December 2004 as the month of birth of your next child? It is really none of my business but I am curious. Indeed if it is a month which is auspicious I wonder that if you really believe that the destiny of a person is decided according to the day / month / year of his / her, how can you be arrogant enough to believe that by making sure the day / date / year you can engineer your childs destiny. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, nature does not give you this privilege. An average couple would take a few months / years to conceive after they stop using contraception. So what you want really is a tall order. And it generally does not work like that. Though you will find some doctors who will even do an IVF to cater to your demand. But I must warn you that it is difficult to ensure that it happens even if you use all technologies available currently. Anyway to answer your query simply the due date is calculated according to the observed fact that average time the fetus spends in the womb is 282.4 days from the first day of the last menstrual period (provided you have a 28 day cycle, it has to be adjusted according to your cycle length) a working rule is to add 9 months and 7 days to the date that was the first day of the last menstrual period. And if you can time the day of conception (like having sex only once during the cycle after monitoring ovulation) it will be 265 days (8 months and 21 days from the intercourse date. To have a baby in December 2004 you should conceive in March 2004 (your last period should be in the first to third week of march and you should conceive in the third/fourth week of march 2004). Regards and all the best!