How To Know If Im A Few Days Pregnant
The most characteristic sign that makes you suspect that you are pregnant is delayed menstruation, and it is because an egg has been fertilized by a sperm and therefore will not be expelled like the rest of the months. The other symptoms that may occur are similar to those that occur days before your period subsides.
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How Concentrated Your Urine Is
Pregnancy tests used to recommend using your first pee of the morning, when more hCG is present. But now theyâre sensitive enough to work at any point in the day, although it does help if youâre taking the test early.
Similarly, drinking too much liquid beforehand could dilute your urine and affect the results.
Can You Feel Pregnant After 5 Days
Some women may notice symptoms as early as 5 DPO, although they wont know for certain that they are pregnant until much later. Early signs and symptoms include implantation bleeding or cramps, which can occur 56 days after the sperm fertilizes the egg. Other early symptoms include breast tenderness and mood changes.
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What Happens During A Pregnancy Test
You can get a home pregnancy test kit at the drug store without a prescription. Most are inexpensive and easy to use.
Many home pregnancy tests include a device called a dipstick. Some also include a collection cup. Your home test may include the following steps or similar steps:
- Do the test on your first urination of the morning. The test may be more accurate at this time, because morning urine usually has more HCG.
- Hold the dipstick in your urine stream for 5 to 10 seconds. For kits that include a collection cup, urinate into the cup, and insert the dipstick into the cup for 5 to 10 seconds.
- After a few minutes, the dipstick will show your results. The time to results and the way the results are shown will vary between test kit brands.
- Your dipstick may have a window or other area that shows a plus or minus sign, a single or double line, or the words “pregnant” or “not pregnant.” Your pregnancy test kit will include instructions on how to read your results.
If the results show you are not pregnant, you may want to try again in a few days, as you may have done the test too early. HCG gradually increases during pregnancy.
If your results show you are pregnant, you should make an appointment with your health care provider. Your provider may confirm your results with a physical exam and/or a blood test.
Is There Anything Else I Need To Know About A Pregnancy Test
A urine pregnancy test shows whether HCG is present. HCG indicates pregnancy. A pregnancy blood test also shows the amount of HCG. If your blood tests show a very low amount of HCG, it could mean you have an ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy that grows outside the uterus. A developing baby can’t survive an ectopic pregnancy. Without treatment, the condition can be life-threatening for a woman.
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Best Early Pregnancy Test: First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test
How it works: The First Response Early Result is your typical pee-on-a-stick home pregnancy test, with a curved shape and wide tip that makes it easy to use. Hold it in your urine stream and it will pick up any pregnancy hormones. Three minutes later, the test will show one pink line if youre not pregnant and two lines if you are.
How accurate it is: Regarded as one of the most sensitive early pregnancy test out there , the makers of the FRER say it can tell you youre pregnant about five days before your expected period. Just keep in mind that pregnancy hormones might not have accumulated enough in your system yet , so its only 76 percent accurate five days beforehand, according to the brands testing. The accuracy increases the closer you get to your expected period.
Buy it: $9 for 2, Walmart.com
Best Pregnancy Test Kit
Price: $Pros: This kit comes with both ovulation and pregnancy tests, and you can track your results in the app to better predict ovulation.Cons: Some users may find the line method less reliable and more difficult to decipher. Reviewers have noted negative results with these strips when other tests like First Response and Clear Blue show positive results.Results time: 3 to 5 minutesDisplay method: Line test If youre TTC and want a little more info at your disposal, you can actually purchase a pregnancy test kit. This one, from Easy@Home, includes 10 pregnancy test strips and 40 ovulation test strips.Ovulation test strips work just like pregnancy tests, but they check for a rise in luteinizing hormone . This tells you if youre likely to ovulate in the next 24 to 48 hours so you know when to get the baby-making on. Then, two weeks after doing the deed, you can use one of the pregnancy test strips to see what happened. This is a budget-friendly option if you are going to be doing a lot of testing for ovulation and pregnancy, without having to buy a bunch of separate tests. You can also download the companys free app, which helps simplify tracking your cycle.
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Early Signs Of Pregnancy
- Slight morning nausea
Depending on whether a positive pregnancy test would be good or bad news, symptoms like these may fill you with dreador excitement. But heres the good news: pregnancy symptoms do not mean you are pregnant. In fact, you can feel pregnant and not be pregnant, or not feel pregnant when you really are expecting.
What Other Kinds Of Pregnancy Tests Are There
Whether in strip or stick form, at home or at the doctors office, urine pregnancy tests all test for the presence of the pregnancy hormone hCG.
If you go to your midwife or doctors office, they may also choose to do a blood pregnancy test, which looks for the presence of the same hormone, hCG, in your blood.
Urine pregnancy tests alone are typically very accurate, so blood pregnancy tests are mostly used only if there is a need to know the exact level of hCG in your system .
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The Best Digital Pregnancy Test
Theres nothing special about digital tests that makes them more accurate than their manual counterparts. Digital tests also tend to be less sensitive. However, some people may prefer the clarity of reading a yes or no, pregnant or not pregnant over interpreting faint lines. Digital tests can also be handy if you happen to get interrupted and wait too long to read a manual test or test strip.
Can Dollar Tree Pregnancy Test Detect Early
According to pregnancy information site BabyGaga, more expensive branded tests like Clear Blue and First Response are designed to detect pregnancy earlier than dollar store ones some as early as six days before you miss your period. Meanwhile, dollar store tests tend to detect pregnancy after a missed period.
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What Is A Pregnancy Test
A pregnancy test is a way to determine if youre pregnant by looking at the amount of human chorionic gonadotropin in your body. From the very beginning of pregnancy, your body starts to go through changes to support growth in the grouping of cells that will develop into your baby. One thing that happens very quickly is production of hCG. This chemical is only found in pregnant women and it starts to build up once the fertilized egg implants in the uterus about 10 days after conception.
There are two main types of pregnancy tests urine tests and blood tests. Often, youll take a urine test at home with a home pregnancy test kit. This type of test can be purchased over-the-counter and is available in a variety of price ranges. Blood tests to check for pregnancy are done in your healthcare providers office.
When Is A Blood Pregnancy Test Positive
The blood pregnancy test generally provides greater accuracy earlier. If you are pregnant, your blood test will usually be positive within 3-4 days after implantation or about 9-10 days after fertilization and ovulation, which is roughly 5-6 days before a missed period.
The earliest you can get a positive result on the most sensitive pregnancy tests is 3-4 days after implantation, 11-12 days after ovulation/fertilization or about 2 days prior to your next period. But the majority of home pregnancy tests will not be positive until you miss a period.
LEARN more about your pregnancy test knowledge by taking the Pregnancy Test Quiz
Implantation needs to occur before hCG is produced, and implantation generally happens between 6-12 days post ovulation/fertilization, so the HPT would be positive as early as 11-12 days after ovulation/fertilization.
For this reason, it makes sense to wait until 10-12 days after ovulation. However, even 10-12 days after ovulation, over one-half of pregnant women will still show a negative result.If you did not have an hCG injection , you can believe the positive results, but a negative result does not necessarily exclude a pregnancy. If your period is late, test again.
LEARN more about your pregnancy test knowledge by taking the Pregnancy Test Quiz
Your hCG levels should rise at least 60% every 2 days and many people won’t have a positive HPT until the first day of a missed period or even a few days later.
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How Does Hot Tub Use Affect The Baby
Fifty years ago, researchers discovered that after a substantial heat wave, Guinea pigs on an Australian farm presented higher rates of miscarriage and litters with birth defects. The researchers theorized that the heat could have caused the significant differences.
Obviously we arent going to do this type of study with humans. So, to determine possible dangers to developing embryos, researchers and physicians have to ask pregnant women about exposure to extreme heat.
A number of studies seem to suggest that early pregnancy exposure to extremely hot water in hot tubs when the water temperature is 101 degrees or more can lead to an increased risk for neural tube defects like spina bifida.
Neural tube defects occur when there are problems with the development of the embryos spine and central nervous system. The risk of neural tube defects for a typical pregnancy is about 1 in 1,000. Studies suggest the risk doubles to 2 in 1,000 with exposure to hot tub water.
Follow My Babys Growth
For first-time parents, a baby bump can start showing between 12 and 16 weeks. But others may start showing sooner if its not their first baby. Learning more about the first trimester of pregnancy can explain whats happening in the early stages of pregnancy that may or may not be affecting the baby bump.
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Are There Any Medications That Can Change The Result Of My Pregnancy Test
For the most part, medications do not change your pregnancy test results. Antibiotics, birth control, alcohol and many other drugs do not impact your test results. The main reason for a false-negative is testing too early. You might also get a false-negative if you use a home test incorrectly. Its important to follow the directions on your test kit to make sure you get an accurate result.
However, fertility drugs are one exception. These medications can sometimes cause a false-positive on your pregnancy test. If youre taking fertility medications, reach out to your healthcare provider about your results to make sure they are accurate.
Best Biodegradable: Lia The Flushable Pregnancy Test
- Biodegradable tests made from natural fibers
- Is flushable and contains no plastic
Most pregnancy tests are made from plastic. And since each test is good for only one use, a lot of plastic ends up in landfills. Thats where the Lia Flushable Pregnancy Test comes in. These biodegradable tests are made from natural fibers.
In fact, they are the same fibers used in most toilet paper. While not as sensitive as some other tests, Lia can detect pregnancy when your hCG reaches 25 mIU/mL. The test degrades in about 10 weeks. And, these eco-friendly home pregnancy tests are made in the United States. But Lia is available only on the companys website.
Price: $13.99
- Discreet and easy to store
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Home Pregnancy Tests: What You Need To Know
Home pregnancy tests should really be called human chorionic gonadotropin tests, said David Grenache, a clinical chemist who specializes in diagnostic testing. The tests can detect the presence of hCG, a hormone thats measurable in urine after a fertilized egg burrows into the uterine wall. But they dont truly tell you that youre carrying a viable pregnancy. There are also rare medical conditions or medical treatments that make hCG detectable in the urine. So even though its a good indicator for pregnancy, a positive result doesnt always mean youre pregnant.
This burrowing event typically happens anywhere from six to 12 days after ovulation, when a fertilized egg first leaves the ovary. Ovulation occurs between days 12 and 16 of the menstrual cycle, which begins on the first day of a persons period. Health-care providers measure pregnancy from day 1 of the cycle, which is the first day of a persons last period. So by the time hCG is present at measurable levels , from a medical standpoint, a pregnancy may be three or four weeks along, even though the fertilized egg has only just implanted.
Once the body begins producing more hCG, its amount in the blood and urine roughly doubles every two or three days for the first eight to nine weeks of pregnancy. After implantation, someone might have anywhere from 5 to 50 mIU/mL of hCG in their pee .
Can Everyone Use The Early Pregnancy Test
Early pregnancy tests are expensive. Once you are a few days past expected period, there is no need to use an early pregnancy test.
Everyone can use the early pregnancy test. An early pregnancy test works for everyone. But it is a sheer waste of money.
After taking a urine hCG pregnancy test, you have to go to the doctor to get a pregnancy blood test.
An early pregnancy test is useful in detecting early pregnancy. This may be essential if the woman has health issues that can affect her pregnancy.
In this case, she cannot go to the doctor every time without taking a home pregnancy test. But she needs to go to the doctor as soon as she comes to know that she is pregnant.
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If You’re Not Sure You Want To Be Pregnant
If you’re not sure about continuing with the pregnancy, you can discuss this confidentially with a healthcare professional. Your options are:
- continuing with the pregnancy and keeping the baby
- having an abortion
- continuing with the pregnancy and having the baby adopted
As well as a GP or a nurse at your GP surgery, you can also get accurate, confidential information from the age of 13 from the following:
- the National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory service website
All these services including community contraceptive clinics are confidential. If you’re 13 or older, the staff won’t tell your parents. They’ll encourage you to talk to your parents, but they won’t force you.
If you’re under 25 and would prefer advice specifically for young people, the sexual health charity Brook provides a range of services for young people. The Brook website contains information on pregnancy choices. You can also use the Ask Brook 24/7 service.
Light Bleeding Or Spotting
Implantation bleeding is the light vaginal bleeding that typically occurs about 10 to 14 days after conception. It shouldnt cause anything more than mild spotting, which you may notice in your underwear. Implantation bleeding can also be accompanied by mild cramps that resemble the cramps of menstruation.
If the bleeding is heavy or if the cramping is severe, contact a health care provider for advice.
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What Do I Need To Know Before Starting A Test
First, for you. Then, there are a few things you should do before taking a pregnancy test, like:
- Check the expiry date on the box. Even if youve bought the test recently, its always a good idea to make sure the test youve purchased is still valid. An may give you an unexpected result.
- Use the first urine of the day if youre testing early. Pregnancy tests look for the presence of the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone in your urine, which is more concentrated first thing in the morning. If you havent missed your period yet, your levels of hCG may not be high enough to be detected in more diluted urine. However, you can test any time of day if youve already missed your period as the pregnancy hormone level will be high enough to give a positive result at any time of the day if you are pregnant.
- Do not drink too much liquid before testing. How much you drink before testing is especially important if youre testing early, as too much liquid can dilute the hCG levels in your urine.
- If you want to collect a sample, have a clean cup to hand you can use. If you choose to test directly in your urine stream, make sure you have the test ready to use.
- You may want to use a timer. Keeping track of the time you need to wait to read the results can help you be sure youve waited long enough.
