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Pregnancy Tests

Home pregnancy tests. HPT's. The purchase of one of these is a big moment - or not, if you bought it while you were still ovulating. But the instant you unwrap one - wow. This is it. The answer will soon appear in your hands like magic. Hopefully, anyway!

Here you will find my advice for taking pregnancy tests. This advice was born after two weeks of personal and absolute craziness on my part. This way, the dozen or so pregnancy tests I took and the serious disappointment I felt when they were all negative will not have been in vain!

1. Wait until your period is due.

Or better yet, wait until it's a few days late. Even the most regular girl can be off by a day or two, and seriously, save yourself the heartache of seeing a stark white BFN (big fat negative).

Even though some pregnancy tests proclaim that they can be used 4 or even 5 days before your period is due, if you read the fine print on the box it will state the percentages of women who this is likely to work for, and if used 4 days before your period is due it only detects hCG in around 60% of women.

As a general rule, most pregnancy tests will detect hCG in urine on or around the first day of your missed period, and some can detect it before that day. How early this detection can happen depends on the sensitivity of the particular test you are taking as well as the amount of hCG in your system. What you need to keep in mind is that not all women produce hCG at the same time, and they also don't all ovulate on the same day.

2. If you get a negative, test again.

Especially if you didn't heed the aforementioned advice to wait until your period is due (guilty!), consider that you still may be pregnant but not producing enough hCG to register on a test. Some women routinely don't get a BFP until being a week or even more late, and can lead to a three or even four week wait. Fortunately, this isn't common.

That said,

3. Don't test every day.

If you get a negative, wait at least two to three days before testing again - or better yet, a whole week (hahaha). This is because hCG, if present, will double every 48-72 hours, and you have a better chance of getting a positive result if you wait a few days (barring an appearance from our old friend Aunt Flo of course). This will not only save you money but the disappointment of another BFN.

I would suggest that if your period is a week late and you have had no period nor a BFP, consult your doctor just to check things out. Usually (although not by any means always) HPT's will reflect a pregnancy by the time you are about 22 DPO (days past ovulation), or a week late.

4. Do not use internet cheapies.

If you have to ask what these are, you are much better off not knowing. I know that plenty of people have gotten true positives from these types of extremely cheap test strips purchased on the internet but not only are they prone to very convincing evaporation lines after only 5 minutes, but they have shown "very faint lines" within the extremely short time limit to women hoping to be pregnant when they weren't pregnant at all.

On most tests you can believe a very faint line. Not on cheapies - unless you follow up with a more reliable test and it too is a BFP!

5. Buy a good pregnancy test!

Not all cheap tests are garbage of course, but even going to Wal-Mart and grabbing an Equate (which is a favorite, extremely cheap, and rarely tells lies) is so much better than getting junk sticks off the internet. Here is a selection of "non-junk-internet" pregnancy tests:

6. Follow the test's directions.

Be careful on this one! Many tests say to hold in your urine stream (or dip in a cup of pee) for at least 10 seconds, but others say for no more than 5. This is a big difference, and can alter your results and waste your test. Also take care to read within the time limit.

7. Don't look at the test after the time limit.

I admit I'm totally guilty of this. I have even dug tests out of the garbage to re-analyze them. But really, it makes no logical sense, because any line that appears after the test's time limit is most likely an evaporation line and cannot be counted as being positive.

8. If you get a positive, believe it.

Unless, of course, it's a very very faint positive on an internet cheapie, and in which case, follow up with a more reliable brand. A general rule of thumb is that "a line is a line." If you don't have hCG in your body, you won't get anything (except the line that is supposed to be there).

False positives are extremely rare and often when they do happen it has alerted you to a very early pregnancy that shortly after miscarries or doesn't successfully implant. Before the "early pregnancy testing" craze happened women would simply assume their period was late or perhaps a little heavier than usual, never knowing that they conceived and then miscarried.

9. Realize that all logical thought can go out the window in the 2ww.

There really is no logical behavior in the two week wait. It can be agony, waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Taking pregnancy tests outside to peer on them in "natural light" ... holding them a foot away from your face and then far away ... scanning them in to your computer and playing with it ... it's all perfectly normal behavior, and holding off from testing may be physically impossible, particularly if you are loaded with signs and symptoms.

Good luck. I know I'll need it next round!!