Finding Out You Are Pregnant: Pregnancy Tests

One of the most common ways for a woman to discover if they are pregnant is the pregnancy tests known as HPTs. These are a test that may be taken at home. Time was when women had to go to a doctor’s office and have a blood test to find out if they were pregnant or not. A blood test is still used but not as often as the HPT. A woman who is being cared for by a fertility specialist will often be warned not to take an HPT. She will be told to wait for a blood test result that will be performed at the appropriate time. How many of these women actually wait until that day? Most of them will probably tell you that they could not wait and cheated. That they took an HPT just because they couldn’t wait. Or so that they would be emotionally prepared for the blood test results.

This home pregnancy test is fairly inexpensive. It also very easy to take and can be done in the privacy of your home. No one else will know the result until you are ready to share with them, not even your doctor’s office.

There are many HPTs on the market today. There are many popular brands such as the Early-Pregnancy-Tests, the Aim Stick Dipstick, the Clearblue Easy, One Step Be Sure, E.P.T., Early Pregnancy Test, and then there are those that are brands marketed by drugstores like the Rite-Aid brand, and the CVS brand.

Generally the soonest you can test with these brands of HPTs will depend upon how sensitive the particular test is. The screen needs to happen before hCG is created and detectible in the urine. This normally happens somewhere between 6 and 12 days after the egg was discharged from the ovary. To make sure that you do not to waste your money buying tests that are used too early to show results, it is suggested that you try to wait until they are at least 12 days after ovulation. If the test can be put off until the first day of your anticipated period, there is a 90% chance of receiving a correct HPT test result. By waiting until a week past that first expected day of her period, the accuracy rate shoots up to 97%.

It is best to test with urine collected first thing in the morning because this urine has the highest concentration of the hCG hormone. The higher the concentration the darker the test line and easier it is to see the result and know your answer. If you miss that first morning urine, don’t fret if you wait approximately 4 to 5 hours (holding your urine) and then use this urine to test, there should be a high enough concentration of hCG to have an accurate result.

It is rare to get a negative HPT result when you are indeed pregnant but it does happen if you test too early.

The accuracy of the screen depends upon whether or not you observed the directions, the day within your period that you take the test, the time of day when you take the test, and also the brand of examination you use. This is because some home pregnancy tests are more sensitive than others.

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