Before the absence of the rule, and perhaps at the first symptoms, the woman wonders if a pregnancy is possible. The easiest, most comfortable and fastest method of knowing if we are pregnant is the pregnancy test What can you buy at the pharmacy?
But it is important to do the test well to not doubt the result and avoid the typical question, will I have done well ?, which can cause anxiety and nervousness. If the test is well done, the result is reliable.
When to do the pregnancy test
It is essential to choose well the day we are tested, since the pregnancy hormone is detected in the urine fifteen days after conception and not before. If we perform the test before the date, it is likely that the test of a false negative. Therefore you must wait for a delay of at least one day.
There are tests capable of detecting the pregnancy hormone from the first week after conception, that is, before when the menstruation should have come, but remember that in this week the amount of pregnancy hormones usually goes unnoticed for most of the tests
try to buy a test as sensitive as possible, that is to say that it detects the lowest concentration of hCG. The majority detect from 20 mIU / ml (International units per milliliter of urine).
In Babies and more, how does a pregnancy test work?Women with regular cycles
For women with regular cycles it is easier to calculate the right time. As expected, the woman has ovulated mid-cycle and implantation of the embryo has occurred between six and ten days after fertilization. Therefore, with a delay of one day on the date scheduled for the arrival of menstruation, the levels of the chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG), which begin to rise after implantation, will already have reached a detectable level in urine.
Therefore, although there are tests that promise a result from the first week after conception, the most reliable is to perform it with at least one day late. Although it can be done at any time of the day, it is also recommended to use the first urine of the day, which has a higher concentration.
There are women with irregular periods who may have become pregnant later than they think and the test may give a false negative. If so, and you suspect that you may be pregnant, you should repeat the test a few days later.
Women with irregular cycles
For women who do not have a regular cycle, the detection of pregnancy is a bit more complicated than for the previous ones. There are very intuitive women who have the certainty of being pregnant even before the pregnancy test confirms it, but since not all are capable or need a scientific confirmation, almost all resort to the pregnancy test.
Performing the test one day late may be too early to obtain a reliable result. You may have ovulated later than expected, therefore it is advisable to obtain a reliable result one week after the scheduled date for your period.
In Babies and moreThe seven most frequently asked questions about the pregnancy testHow to do the pregnancy test
Almost all the pregnancy tests They can be done at any time of the day, but for added security it is recommended to do so with the first morning urine which is the one with the highest concentration of hormone.
If you follow the manufacturer's instructions, you will see that the procedure is very simple and practically does not lead to errors. You must develop the test, remove the cover of the test strip and place it for 5 seconds in direct contact with the urine while peeing. Once the urine is collected, you must recap the test (it is important that it does not come into contact with any other substance), place it on a flat surface and wait 3-5 minutes to read the result.
The test marks may be more or less intense which may indicate in some cases the time of pregnancy. But anyway, Although the intensity of the lines is low, the result is positive.
The test cartridges carry an absorbent strip that reacts when the presence of the urine is detected in the urine chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG), the pregnancy hormone, causing the strip to take color.
Some tests have a control strip that, when reacting, indicates that we have performed the test well.
False negatives in the pregnancy test
As you know there are false negatives in pregnancy tests. That is, if the result is negative but menstruation does not appear, it is definitely not negative. You must repeat the test after five or six days.
However, it is positive It is certain that you are pregnant. Except in the case of ectopic embryos (those that occur outside the uterus) or of embryonic pregnancies (without embryo), that although they raise the hormone levels, pregnancy is not real.
The most important thing is that before taking the test you read the instructions very carefully, since there are several types of tests on the market.
In Babies and more The pregnancy test has tested positive: what do I do now?
