If you think you could be pregnant, it’s best to know when you can take a pregnancy test. Timing depends on what type of test you are taking. There are two types of pregnancy tests, a blood test and a urine test. Both look for the same hormone, which is only found in a woman’s body if she is pregnant. The hormone is called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, and is also usually referred to as hCG. The difference between the two tests is when they can detect the hCG. Blood tests can find hCG six to eight days after ovulation, and in most cases urine tests take about two weeks after ovulation.
hCG is measured in thousandths of International Units, or mIU. Pregnancy tests with a sensitivity of 20 mIU/ml are more sensitive than tests with 50 to 100 mIU/ml. Manufacturers will display how sensitive their tests are using mIU as the standard unit of measure. Test sensitivity walks hand in hand with early-detection. The lower the number, the sooner a test can detect pregnancy. The most sensitive pregnancy tests can detect hCG levels at as low as 20 mIU, or at around 8 days following implantation of the egg. However, blood tests done at a doctors office can detect the earliest signs of the pregnancy hormone.
When women choose to do an at-home pregnancy test, it’s one that tests her urine for the pregnancy hormone hCG. There are many benefits to taking a home pregnancy test such as they are cheap, easy and more importantly private. By taking the test privately, you are able to take the test when you are ready and you can react however you want to. Nobody needs to know you have taken it, including spouses, friends, parents or other family members. The urine you test should be the first of the morning as the hCG is most easiest to detect in that urine and is at its highest level. If you get a positive or negative result from a home test and you are unsure, then you need to make an appointment with your doctor so he or she can confirm the results with a blood test. Plus doctors can also give a pelvic examination.
Home pregnancy tests, if done correctly, can be 99% accurate. However, many women test too early in their cycles, not giving enough time for hCG to build up in her system. It’s best to take the test after you have missed a period, or 14 days after ovulation. Testing any earlier can give you negative results. If you believe you are pregnant but get a negative result, take it again a week later (that is if you have still not started your period). At that point if you get a negative result but are still unhappy or unsure about it, visit your doctor.
When women choose to do an at-home pregnancy test, it’s one that tests her urine for the pregnancy hormone hCG. There are many benefits to taking a home pregnancy test such as they are cheap, easy and more importantly private. By taking the test privately, you are able to take the test when you are ready and you can react however you want to. Nobody needs to know you have taken it, including spouses, friends, parents or other family members. The urine you test should be the first of the morning as the hCG is most easiest to detect in that urine and is at its highest level. If you get a positive or negative result from a home test and you are unsure, then you need to make an appointment with your doctor so he or she can confirm the results with a blood test. Plus doctors can also give a pelvic examination.
Home pregnancy tests, if done correctly, can be 99% accurate. However, many women test too early in their cycles, not giving enough time for hCG to build up in her system. It’s best to take the test after you have missed a period, or 14 days after ovulation. Testing any earlier can give you negative results. If you believe you are pregnant but get a negative result, take it again a week later (that is if you have still not started your period). At that point if you get a negative result but are still unhappy or unsure about it, visit your doctor.
Most women do not accurately know when they ovulate. Ovulation is the key ingredient in the conception formula. A woman can only get pregnant when she ovulates. Although confusing at times, when a woman says “my period is late” she actually means her ovulation date is late. Like with all monthly cycles, all women vary. The only thing that stays consistent within all women’s monthly cycle is the fact that every woman starts her period exactly 14 days after she ovulates. That’s why pregnancy tests should not be taken too early.
When an egg is fertilized after you ovulate, it takes about a week to travel through the fallopian tube to the uterus. It’s only after a fertilized egg implants in the uterus that your body starts producing hCG. Even then, it takes time to build up the levels of hCG in your body. So even if you did conceive and you test too early, you’ll receive a negative result because the fertilized egg hasn’t had time to become implanted. It’s as simple as that.(pregnancycorner)
When an egg is fertilized after you ovulate, it takes about a week to travel through the fallopian tube to the uterus. It’s only after a fertilized egg implants in the uterus that your body starts producing hCG. Even then, it takes time to build up the levels of hCG in your body. So even if you did conceive and you test too early, you’ll receive a negative result because the fertilized egg hasn’t had time to become implanted. It’s as simple as that.(pregnancycorner)
