If you suspect you are pregnant, you can confirm it without visiting a doctor. You can do it by doing a home pregnancy test. Doing it is very simple. When you get pregnant, your body will produce a hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) from the placenta and this can be detected by a home pregnancy test. As early as six days after fertilization occurs, your body starts to produce HCG in increasing levels. This can be easily detected in your urine.
Why Home Pregnancy Test?
Home pregnancy test kits are being sold in grocery and drug stores and at very affordable prices. The kit usually involves very simple instructions you just need to follow it.
A test kit is usually done when you urinate. You will have to collect a small amount of urine in container that comes with the package, dip the test stick on it and wait for three to five minutes. You can read the symbols in the stick to confirm whether you are pregnant or not.
There are so many home pregnancy test kits available in the market today. Each brand has its own display of symbols to indicate whether the result is positive or negative. A positive result indicates you are pregnant while a negative result indicates you are not.
If you home pregnancy test shows a positive result, it is best if you make an appointment with your doctor. However, if the test shows negative and you haven’t started your period after a few days, you can do another test.
Inaccuracies in Home Pregnancy Tests
Not all home pregnancy tests will show a correct result. There are instances when you are pregnant yet the result will show a negative sign. This could be because you might have done the home pregnancy test so soon and the HCG levels in your body cannot yet be detected by the test kit in your urine. Another case is if you take in large amounts of water, this can dilute your urine. The best time to conduct a urine test is first thing in the morning when your urine is still most concentrated.
Home pregnancy tests could also present false positives caused by a “chemical pregnancy.” This happens when a fertilized egg starts to implant itself in the uterus for a few days then stop developing. The first few days is enough to produce HCG that can be detected in your urine.