MM Pregnancy tests
Put to the
If you’re trying for a baby, that monthly wait to see if you’re pregnant can be fraught with anxiety. But when exactly is the best time to take a pregnancy test?
When you want to know if you are pregnant – especially if you’ve been trying for a baby - it can be tempting to take the test as soon as your period is due. But wait! Did you know that you are supposed to wait until at least the day your period is due to arrive before you even consider taking a pregnancy test?
How pregnant tests work Home pregnancy tests are 99 per cent accurate on the day your period is due, but certainly not before. Other experts maintain that you should actually wait until a full week after it’s due before you take the test. In order to work out how to use a
pregnancy test, it may be a good idea to understand how they work. Pregnancy tests detect the pregnancy
hormone human chorionic gonadotropia (hCG) in your urine. This hormone is only produced after an embryo implants itself in the lining of your womb. Pregnancy tests don’t measure the exact
amount of hCG in your urine, they just detect whether a minimum amount is pregnant. If you are pregnant, then your hCG level will be in excess of five mIU/ml; if you’re not pregnant, then you will have less than five mIU/ml of hCG in your urine. If you do get a negative result, it doesn’t
16 Modernmum
mean that your urine doesn’t contain any hCG, it just means it doesn’t contain enough to trigger a positive result. (Most home pregnancy tests will tell
you on the packaging how much hCG the test requires.)
So when is the best time? The best time to take a pregnancy test is once your period is actually late. To do this you need to know when your period is actually due, so if you haven’t started keeping a note of your cycle, now is the time to do so.. Obviously if your cycles are regular, it’s
not difficult to chart when your period is due and, consequently, when it’s late. If your cycles are irregular, however, or if
you don’t chart your cycles, don’t take a test until you’ve passed the longest menstrual cycle you usually have. For example, if your cycle ranges from 28 to 34 days, then the best time to take a test would be on day 35.
Testing too early The problem with testing too early is that your body doesn’t begin to produce hCG as soon as you ovulate and the egg is fertilised. It can take up to a week before your body even begins to produce hCG because the fertilised egg needs to
implant itself in the wall of your uterus. It is only at this point, ie, when the egg is implanted into your uterus, that hCG begins to be produced.
Early result pregnancy tests These tests, which promise results three or four days before your missed period, are based on your fourteen-day ‘luteal phase’, which is the time between ovulation and when you get your period. The problem with these tests is that you
may have a longer or shorter luteal phase. If your phase is twelve days, then four days before your missed period would be nine days after ovulation and that, naturally, would be much too early to test to see if you are pregnant, so taking a test would be pointless. If, on the other hand, your luteal phase is
fifteen days, then four days before your missed period is twelve days post- ovulation. Again, you may still not have enough hCG at that point to indicate pregnancy, but you’ve got a better chance than someone with a shorter luteal phase. At Modern Mum, we all know how
exciting it can be waiting to find out if you’re pregnant or not but, if you can hold off until you’ve actually missed a period, then you’re more likely to get a definite result.
test!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
