Pregnancy tests
After Christmas and New
Year partying, it time to get back to the real world – but you may be stressing
about the period you’ve missed.
If you’re hurling your
heart out over the toilet every morning, decidedly more irritable (or tearful)
than usual and your breasts are popping out of your bra, there’s hardly the
need for a pregnancy test. But do one all the same!
Of course, you’ll be
skeptical about the results. If the test is negative, you’ll think that you
have done the test too early … or maybe you didn’t do it properly, or was there
enough pee on the stick … did you aim straight, did you wait long enough or
maybe too long? Going for a blood test will give you accurate results – even
before you have missed your period.
When a pregnancy test is
positive, it can be seriously stressful – particularly if you’re not married /
if he’s married / if you’re still at school / if you’re 40-something and you
thought you were going through menopause / if you’ve already got an entourage
of children!
When using a home pregnancy test:
Check the expirary date
Read the instructions carefully
You can only use the test once
Don’t keep the test in the bathroom cabinet where it can get steamed up,
or on the windowsill where there’s too much sunlight
Test your urine first thing in the morning when it’s concentrated. If
you need to repeat the test, do it again the next morning. Early morning urine
contains higher levels of the pregnancy hormone called hCG (human chorionic
gonadotropin).
Most tests can be read after 40 seconds. If
there is no change after five minutes, consider the test negative. A negative test cannot
become positive. If there's
a faint line, the test is positive because there may only a small amount of hCG
in your urine if it's very early in the pregnancy. If there are two little pink lines, the test is positive. After 10
minutes the test is no longer valid.
Some pregnancy tests simply say NO / YES
or pregnant / not pregnant. Fancier tests can even tell how far pregnant
you are.
Blood or urine test?
While most women can do
their own pregnancy test at home, women using IVF (In-Vitro Fertilisation) will have regular blood tests for pregnancy. Women with complicated
pregnancies such as repeated miscarriages may need progesterone injections to
prevent another miscarriage, so she should have a blood pregnancy test as early
as possible.
How do pregnancy tests work?
About eight days after fertilisation,
the egg produces a hormone called hCG. This hormone helps to keep the egg alive
by making sure that the ovary continues to produce progesterone. Higher levels
of progesterone are essential for a pregnancy to be maintained until the
fertilised egg reaches the safety of the womb (this takes about 10 days).
When will your baby be born?
Although the baby’s birth
date is calculated from the first day of a last period, conception only happens
two weeks later when the woman’s body is fertile. This fertility phase or ‘fertile
window’ is called ovulation. In the second week of the baby’s development hCG
levels double every second day until 7 – 10 weeks when the placenta can make its
own hormones. This hormone will be around throughout the pregnancy and up until
three days after the birth.
While most women conceive
about two weeks after her period, women who ovulate later will conceive later. Conception
doesn’t always happen on the day of having sex either. Baby girls can be
conceived five days after sex because the girl sperm sometimes ‘holiday’ in the
cervix (mouth of the womb) for just as many days! Boy sperm on the other hand
are different – they swim faster and don’t take a mid-way break on their
perilous journey to the womb. Baby boys are usually conceived on the day of
having sex.
Conclusion:
If a woman does a pregnancy
test too soon, her test will be negative. It’s safest to wait until she has
missed a period to do a home pregnancy test. For women who are anxious to get
pregnant, it’s best for her to wait until she has had a scan before telling the
world her good news on social media! If this pregnancy is a whoopsie, don’t
panic. Phone a friend. Discuss your options. Don’t make any hasty decisions. Remember,
every baby is a sacrifical blessing in one way or another!
