When Can You Detect Pregnancy

Increased Heart Rate During Early Pregnancy

Around weeks 8 to 10, your heart may begin pumping faster and harder. Palpitations and arrhythmias are common in pregnancy. This is normally due to hormones.

Increased blood flow due to the fetus happens later in pregnancy. Ideally, management starts before conception, but if you have an underlying heart problem, your doctor can help supervise low dosages of drugs.

When Should I See A Doctor For A Clinical Pregnancy Test

Most women who have a positive pregnancy test should wait a week or two before calling the Ob/Gyn office for a pregnancy blood test. We suggest waiting because the rate of early pregnancy loss is high, and its possible that it might have been a chemical pregnancy.

However, women with a history of ectopic pregnancy or current abdominal pain should call the doctor right away to be examined. Ectopic pregnancies implant outside of the uterus and produce hCG, resulting in positive pregnancy tests. However, these pregnancies can cause abdominal bleeding and prompt medical care is necessary. Women who have congenital heart defects or other chronic physical or mental health conditions should also see a doctor right away because treatment plans or medications might need to be altered to protect the woman and the fetus.

Advances in home pregnancy tests give women greater insight into whats going on in their bodies sooner than ever before. No matter what a womans childbearing plans might be, its essential to get quick, accurate results at home so she can plan her next steps accordingly.

What Are The Signs Of Pregnancy

The signs of pregnancy vary from woman to woman. Usually the most obvious sign is the absence of menstruation . However, some women continue to have bleeding even while pregnant. The following are the most common first signs of pregnancy. However, each woman may experience the signs of pregnancy differently. These may include:

• Extreme tiredness

• Nausea or vomiting

• Frequent urination

• Certain food cravings or aversions

• Bloating of the belly

• Darkening of the skin around the nipples .

These early signs may not positively indicate pregnancy, but may actually signal another process happening within the body. A pregnancy test can provide more accurate results.

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How Far Along Am I

Knowing how far along you are in pregnancy is useful for both you and your healthcare provider. Your provider will use this information to check on your babyâs growth and development, to keep an eye on your health, and to schedule tests and exams.

The weeks of pregnancy are also grouped into three trimesters:

• First trimester: 0 to 13 weeks

• Second trimester: 14 to 27 weeks

• Third trimester: 28 to 40 weeks

So that you can see at a glance how far along you are in your pregnancy, and which trimester you are in, check out the illustration below:

What Is An Hcg Blood Pregnancy Test

There are two types of blood tests to determine pregnancy:

• Qualitative hCG blood serum tests check to see if a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin is present in your blood. HCG is a hormone produced by the body during pregnancy. A positive result means you are pregnant and a negative result means you are not pregnant.
• Quantitative hCG blood serum tests also check to see if hCG is present in your blood, but these tests can detect even trace amounts of the hormone. Because it is more precise, this test helps to determine whether the pregnancy is normal and healthy.

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/5when Is The Right Time To Take The Test

The best time to take the pregnancy test is after your period is late. You can take the test from the first day of your missed period. Some test kits show positive as early as 4 or 5 days before your period is due. Taking the test after a missed period can help you avoid false negatives and the false positives of very early miscarriages. If your menstrual cycle is irregular then wait for 35 to 40 days before taking the test for an accurate result.

How Early Can I Take A Pregnancy Test

How early you are able to take a pregnancy test will depend on the type of test that you use. All pregnancy tests measure the amount of the pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotrophin in your body. This hormone is produced when the egg is fertilized and attaches to the uterine wall, usually six days after fertilization.

Some tests are more sensitive than others and can detect very low levels of hCG in your body. The more sensitive tests could detect hCG as early as four days before your missed period. The sensitivity of a pregnancy test can be found on the packaging and is measured in mIU/ml . Sensitivity can range from 10mIU/ml to 40mIU/ml. The lower the number, the more sensitive the test is and, in turn, will detect pregnancy sooner.

Different Types of Tests

There are two main types of pregnancy tests, urine test and blood test. Both tests detect the amount of hCG in the body.

Urine Test

Urine tests can be purchased at the grocery store or pharmacy and done in the privacy of your home. Results are most accurate when the test is performed when your period is due, or about 2 weeks after you ovulate. However, some can detect pregnancy as early as 4 days before your missed period.

If you get a positive result, you will want to make an appointment with your doctor to have a blood test done to confirm the pregnancy and begin prenatal care.

Blood Test

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The Most Common Sign Of Early Pregnancy A Missed Period

Your menstrual cycle is your bodys way of preparing for a possible pregnancy each month. Part of that is the thickening of your uterine lining, which is where a fertilized egg would implant to begin a pregnancy.

If youre not pregnant, your period is how your uterus sheds that extra lining. If you are pregnant, that lining stays put and you dont get your normal flow. This is why a missed period is often the earliest sign of pregnancy.

Of course, a delayed or missed period doesnt always mean youre pregnant. If your body is under a lot of stress or you have a hormonal imbalance, you could be experiencing an irregular menstrual cycle.

Super Early Signs Of Pregnancy How Soon Can I Tell If Im Pregnant

1. Missed Period

Sometimes the very first indicator for many women, a missed period is normally a good sign that a pregnancy has occurred.

However, its also not always the case. Periods can be delayed in general by stress or changes to your diet, and bleeding can even still occur throughout pregnancy.

If you havent yet missed your period, but would like to test early, home pregnancy tests such as First Response can detect pregnancy hormones up to six days prior to a missed period. But this is certainly not guaranteed.

Its better to wait until your period is actually missed so that your body is making enough hormones to detect and you can get an accurate result. You will also need to make sure you take the test properly.

Read the full instructions on how to do this towards the end of this page.

2. Nausea or Vomiting

Nausea is an extremely common side effect of pregnancy, especially early on. If you find yourself feeling nauseous for no reason you can pinpoint, dry retching or unexpectedly over the toilet, you may want to take a test.

3. Spotting

Some women notice very light pink or brown spots of blood around a week two weeks after conception. This is the fertilized embryo implanting into the lining of the womb and is called implantation bleeding.

4. Dizziness

Finding yourself needing to sit down often, getting light-headed or wobbly on your feet, and unable to focus on things you normally can could indicate pregnancy.

5. Headaches

6. Increased Sensitivity to Smells

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When Will Your Baby Be Born

When you find out youâre pregnant, one of your first questions might be âwhen will I get to meet my baby?â For an estimate, try our Due Date Calculator, where you can simply enter the first day of your last period or the date of conception.

Keep in mind, only about 5 percent of babies are born exactly on their due date. Itâs totally normal to give birth in the two weeks either side of your due date. Your healthcare provider can also give you an estimate of when your little one will be born.

Due dates are typically calculated as 280 days, or 40 weeks, from the first day of your last menstrual period. When calculating a due date and the weeks of pregnancy in this way, the first week of pregnancy is actually the week you had your period, and were not pregnant yet. Itâs hard to wrap your head around but, based on how due dates are calculated, you are not actually pregnant yet in the first couple of weeks of the 40 weeks of pregnancy.

How Early Can You Tell If Youre Pregnant

Again, youll need to take a pregnancy test at the right time to confirm your hopes or suspicions. But when it comes to the first symptoms of pregnancy, everyone is different. Some people start to notice changes within a week after conception. Others might not notice anything until they miss their period.

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Negative Test But Feel Pregnant

Speak to your healthcare provider if youve taken a pregnancy test that has come up negative, but you are experiencing symptoms of early pregnancy such as:

• Breast tenderness

• High chance of a false negative result if pregnant

• Expense of repeated tests, if necessary

• Not accurate with hCG trigger shots

Morning Sickness Nausea And Vomiting During Early Pregnancy

Nausea and morning sickness usually develops around weeks 4 to 6. Although its called morning sickness, it can occur any time during the day or night. Its unclear exactly what causes nausea and morning sickness, but hormones may play a role.

During the first trimester of pregnancy, many women experience mild to severe morning sickness. It may become more intense toward the end of the first trimester, but often becomes less severe as you enter the second trimester.

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Is It Normal To Be Pregnant The Day After Conception

The Day After Conception Unfortunately, you cant know the day after conception whether you are pregnant. Signs and symptoms of pregnancy do not appear until at least one week after conception. Although you may be impatient to know whether you are pregnant, the only sure way to know is to take a pregnancy test after a missed period.

Pregnancy Testing For An Early And Accurate Result

A pregnancy test measures levels of human chorionic gonadotropin in your blood or urine. hCG starts to be produced after implantation in the walls of the uterus.

Implantation can occur as early as 7 days after conception.

The placenta begins to develop and produces increasing amounts of hCG.

There are no dierences between ethnicities with regard to urinary hCG increase. However, levels of serum hCG in early pregnancy following assisted reproductive technology have been seen to be slightly lower in women with a higher pre-pregnancy body mass index.

If you need early detection of pregnancy, a blood pregnancy test done at the doctors oice can detect low levels of hCG and measure the actual quantity of hCG in the body.

A blood pregnancy test can be accurate six to eight days after ovulation. A urine test is usually accurate about 14-21 days after ovulation.

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/5read On To Know More

Whether you want to get pregnant or do not want to get pregnant, when to take the pregnancy test is a question that bothers most of the women. If you are trying to conceive, you might be eager to take the test and if you have missed your period or witnessing signs of pregnancy then just want to confirm whether or not thats happened.

With over-the-counter pregnancy tests now, you do not have to wait long to know whether you are expecting or not. You just have to pee on the stick and within a few minutes, you will know the answer. But for accurate results, you have to go through the process at the right time. Taking the test too early might give you a false result even if you are pregnant.

How Do Pregnancy Tests Work

After sex, an egg is fertilized with sperm . The fertilized egg travels to the uterus and attaches into the uterine lining . Implantation occurs about 7-14 days after you have had sex, and it triggers your body to start producing the pregnancy hormone, hCG. Your hCG levels will double every 48-72 hours after implantation, and it is important to give those levels time to climb.

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How Many Days To Confirm Pregnancy

After you ovulate and try to conceive, it takes about 2 weeks to see if you have your period. But theres a way to detect it faster home pregnancy kits.

Home pregnancy kits cost ~$5 per test and measure hCG , which is produced by the implanted embryo . With these kits, the false negative rate is high only 50% of pregnancies are detected 4 days before a missed period. But the false positive rate is very low they are very unlikely to tell you youre pregnant when youre not.

One downside to early detection is that pregnancy loss is very common as many as 50% of fertilized eggs dont result in pregnancy. Normally this ends in what appears to be a heavy period. With early detection kits, you might learn youre pregnant, only to lose it, which can be very disappointing. Some people may just choose not to detect early and just wait for their period.

Fun fact: hCG used to be detected by injecting urine into infantile mice or rabbits that were then dissected. If the urine contained hCG, the animals would ovulate. Some organizations now collect urine from pregnant women to extract hCG for fertility treatment.

What Can Cause Pregnancy Tests To Be Wrong

Each type of pregnancy test is designed to detect a set minimum level of hCG. This is why pregnancy test manufacturers advertise the way they do: Know four days sooner, or Accurate up to six days before a missed period. However, while home pregnancy tests are quite accurate many boast a 99 percent detection rate based on laboratory testing results marketing claims can be misleading. For example, a 99 percent detection rate means a test can detect hCG 99 percent of the time on the day a woman misses her period. These statistics also assume that women are testing at the optimal time, following all instructions, and fully understanding how to interpret the results.

In reality, its not that easy. Some studies suggest that up to 1 in 4 tests could be misinterpreted, which has led some companies to switch from using the presence of lines or colors to indicate a positive result to using actual words such as yes, no, pregnant, or not pregnant for clarity.

When a test result is inaccurate, its either a false negative or a false positive . Several factors can cause false negative results:

Having too dilute urine after drinking a lot of water or testing later in the day.

Testing too soon when there has not been enough time for an early pregnancy to implant and start producing hCG.

Using a pregnancy test that doesnt detect lower levels of hCG. You can check the package insert for more information about the level at which the test will be positive.

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When A Blood Test Is Used

If your period is late by several days, and youre still getting negative at-home pregnancy tests, a blood test may be recommended. While rare, it is possible to get a negative test result on an at-home test but still be pregnant. If this is your situation, call your doctor, and dont just order a test on your own. There are other reasons besides pregnancy that your period may be late.

You dont necessarily need a blood test to confirm a positive at-home pregnancy test. If the at-home test said youre pregnant, youre likely pregnant. That said, your doctor might still order one, especially if you request it.

What Should I Do After Getting A Positive Pregnancy Test

If you take a pregnancy test at home and its positive, there are a few things you should do, including:

• Take your prenatal vitamins pick a vitamin with folic acid included in the ingredient list. Its recommended that you actually start taking these vitamins before becoming pregnant. This is because the folic acid can help prevent birth defects.
• Make sure to pursue healthy habits. Its recommended that you dont drink alcohol or smoke during pregnancy. You may also want to limit the amount of caffeine you consume each day during pregnancy.

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Frequent Urination And Incontinence During Early Pregnancy

During pregnancy, your body increase the amount of blood it pumps. This causes the kidney to process more fluid than usual, which leads to more fluid in your bladder.

Hormones also play a large role in bladder health. You may find yourself running to the bathroom more frequently or accidentally leaking.