›› Pregnancy Test
A woman who suspects
that she may be pregnant will often purchase an over the counter
pregnancy test. Pregnancy tests are available in many
different brands, with single or multiple tests per package.
Most of them require the user to urinate on a stick or in a cup, but a
few test with a drop of blood instead. Some have a digital
readout, and others will show a plus sign or double line in the event
that it detects enough pregnancy hormone to determine a pregnancy.
Some pregnancy tests are “early” pregnancy
tests. That means that they are designed to detect a small
enough amount of the pregnancy hormone to determine if a woman is
pregnant as early as the first day of a missed period, or even a day or
two before the period is due. The fine print on the boxes
will tell you that 65% of pregnant women had a positive result when
tested two days before the period was due, and the percentage increased
with each passing day. These are usually accurate, but the
most accurate results are achieved after the period was
expected. A woman will not get a false positive in most
cases, but a negative result will occur if there is not enough
pregnancy hormone detectable yet, even if the pregnancy is positive.
The highest level of pregnancy hormone is found in first-morning
urine. That is the best time to use a pregnancy test
strip. Most of the kind a woman urinates on need to be
saturated with urine in order to work properly. Therefore, be
sure to hold the stick in the urine stream for 3 good seconds or
more.
It takes about 5 minutes for the urine to travel down the strip and the
results to be indicated. The stick must be read within 10
minutes, or it may indicate a positive result after 10 minutes, even if
the result is actually negative. Positive results that show
up within the first 10 minutes may be very faint. This would
happen if it is early, and the pregnancy hormone is just barely
detected. Even a faint result is a positive result.
The woman can confirm the positive by taking another test a day or two
later to see a darker line appear.
Pregnancy tests are very accurate when used correctly. But,
remember, they must be used at the right time of the month.
Too early, and a false negative result will occur, due to the need for
the pregnancy hormone to be present in a high enough quantity for the
stick to measure. If the menstrual period is two weeks late,
and the pregnancy test is still negative, an appointment with the
doctor might be indicated.
If you are pregnant, you should call your doctor and make an
appointment. The first pregnancy appointment is usually at
around 12 weeks of pregnancy, in order to be able to hear the
baby’s heartbeat.
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