Earliest Pregnancy Symptoms

photo credit: janineomg
The first thing a woman might do if she thinks she’s pregnant, is to turn to a pregnancy test.  Even if this test can be taken at the doctor’s office, you can also do it
at home because nowadays, home pregnancy tests are reliable. In fact, it’s pretty likely that the nurse at your first appointment after the pregnancy possibility pops up, will test the urine with the very same pregnancy test you should take at home in your own bathroom.

Instructions are easy to folow and results are easy to read: they are usually printed directly on the box. Test results will show up in a matter of minutes.

Also called HPTs, home pregnancy tests can be purchased at drugstores from $8 to $28 depending on the type of test and the number of tests present in the box.

How HPTs Work?

A pregnancy test works by testing  hCG hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin) level present in your urine. The pregnancy hCG appears as soon as a fertilized egg implants itself in the uterus, which usually happens about six days after conception. This is why it’s preferable to wait at least one week after a missed period in order to give a more accurate answer.

Most Home pregnancy tests work by telling you to hold a stick in your urine stream, while other ask you to collect urine in a cup and dip the stick into it a for few moments. Then, you’ll have to look at the printed diagram to see how the results will appear.

The best time to take a pregnancy test is in the morning as it may help boost accuracy.

With most of them, one line will appear if the test was used correctly (if a correct amount of urine was absorbed by the absorbent tip), then a second line will appear in a second window if the test is positive. So, one line means negative and two lines, positive (meaning you’re pregnant).

Other only show one line or a “+” sign to tell the user that the pregnancy test is positive. It doesn’t matter how light or faint the line is: if a line appears, you are more than likely pregnant!

High Tech Home Pregnancy Tests

Did you know that some pregnancy tests are incredibly high tech compared to those described above?

Some of these high tech ones use power from your computer through an USB port to start an electrospray ionization process that analyzes your urine and will then be able to detect the level of hCG hormone present in it.

Through this HGC level, it will tell you if you’re having a baby, no baby or multiples, as well as give you an estimated due date of when baby is likely to arrive.

If The Test Is Positive

If your home pregnancy test says that you are indeed pregnant, you should call your doctor immediately.

A doctor, midwife, nurse practitioner, obstetrician or gynecologist can do a more sensitive test along with a pelvic exam to determine more specifically if you’re pregnant. They will eventually confirm your pregnancy by checking the hCG level in your blood with a blood test:a blood test measures the exact amount of hCG in your blood, so even tiny amounts of the pregnancy hormone shows up.

Plus, seeing your doctor early on in your pregnancy will help you to begin caring for yourself and your baby earlier, and you have a better chance to develop a healthy regiment of diet and exercise.

Early Pregnancy Tests

If you’re trying to get pregnant, some couples have turned to early pregnancy tests and ovulation predictor kits that are available for home use. These tests pinpoint and increase the odds of conception by using high sensitivity to detect ovulation hormones in urine with accuracy.

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