If you think you are pregnant, a pregnancy test is essential! But before peeing on the sacrosanct stick, here is what you need to know.
Pregnancy and childbearing are probably the areas where we read the most and its opposite. And it starts from conception with the pregnancy test! Did you think negative necessarily meant negative? Well no, we want to explain why.
As a reminder, there are three main categories of pregnancy tests:
- The blood test performed in laboratory, fully reimbursed by Social Security and 100% reliable.
- The saliva test, much less known and only found on the internet.
- The urine test. It is in this category of urine tests that there are the greatest number of different products: the early test that can be performed 5 days before the presumed start of menstruation, the classic test to be performed from the first day of delayed menstruation, digital test with estimated age of pregnancy (1 week, two weeks or three weeks). All these tests found in pharmacies or on the internet have equivalent reliability, around 99%, and provide a response in about three minutes.
Forget "homemade" pregnancy tests
You had unprotected sex and instead of buying a pregnancy test at a drug store, decided to play the apprentice witch. There are a lot of tutorials on the internet, all more preposterous than the next. Coarse salt, sugar, bleach, none of this has actually been proven. It is therefore better to get a real test or consult a doctor to obtain a prescription for a blood test. However, you don't necessarily need a prescription, you can go directly to the lab to do the exam and then ask your doctor for a prescription for reimbursement. Good to know: you don't have to be fasting.
My test is negative, but I can be pregnant: do false negatives exist?
There are many more chances of getting a false negative than a false positive for several reasons.
- Pregnancy test was done too early : You were very impatient and decided to have a test before the expected date of your period. Aside from having used an early test that will detect beta hCG in your blood before your period is due, chances are good that the test will be negative, even if you are actually pregnant.
- The urine was not concentrated enough : for maximum reliability, a pregnancy test should be done with the first morning urine which is more concentrated in the hormone hCG. A test can be negative at 2 p.m. on a Monday and positive on Tuesday at 7 a.m.
- A handling error : It may seem obvious and yet we can never repeat it enough, it is important to read the manual carefully before taking the test. It indicates the date on which it is preferable to take the test but also how it should be carried out (it is necessary to pee correctly on the stick or, better still, soak the absorbent rod for a few seconds in a glass with urine), how long to wait before reading the results. If it says three minutes, it's three minutes!
"For my two pregnancies, I had false negatives. And yet, each time, I had the urine test at the right time, after a day or two late in my period. Maybe it was a matter of time, my urine was not concentrated enough, haste … Yes I did the tests in the toilets of my office! I waited a day or two then I did one again and there it was positive. Baby was there. Result, I ran to the lab to confirm with the blood test. It's always good to buy the tests in pairs according to me because we can do two tests. "
Marion, mother of Louis and Arthur.
It is therefore better to wait for a late period for a test.
If, as we have seen, there are now early detection pregnancy tests, it is better to wait until the period is missed before taking a test. This will make the result much more reliable and minimize the risk of getting a false negative. Of course impatience is often extreme when you are hoping for a pregnancy but waiting a bit can avoid unnecessary disappointment.
If the test is positive, then I am pregnant?
In principle, we could answer yes to this question. If your home urine test is positive, chances are you're actually pregnant. In fact, it's a little more complicated than that! A quality pregnancy test is 99% reliable, but there is a margin of error. The risk is even greater in the weeks following abortion (voluntary termination of pregnancy) or miscarriage. The level of the beta hCG hormone (chorionic gonadotropin hormone), secreted from the 8th day after fertilization, takes a while before returning to its original level. If in doubt, it is best to consult a gynecologist who will usually order several blood tests to monitor the rate.
Only a laboratory blood test can confirm a pregnancy 100%.
This blood test will measure the level of the hormone beta hCG in the blood and also allows to give an approximate date of conception. It is the increase in this rate that will ensure that the pregnancy is progressive.
If the urine or blood test is positive, do I have symptoms of pregnancy?
Are you really looking forward to chest pain or nausea all day? Rest assured, it will come! In some women, it is precisely these symptoms that will encourage them to take a pregnancy test. While others will be very surprised to be pregnant when they have no symptoms apart from a late period. The first signs of pregnancy usually appear two weeks late, one month after ovulation, but again this is a general rule that does not apply to all.
Can we continue to menstruate while pregnant?
More often than you might think, a pregnant woman continues to have her period. We will then talk about birthday menses, bleeding that occurs on the theoretical date of menstruation and its generally due to a small hematoma, implantation or a vaginal examination. They usually occur once in the first month of pregnancy. Women who experience denial of pregnancy can also continue to menstruate until the birth of their baby.
Also read on aufeminin:
Your pregnancy follow-up, week after week
Price, reliability, speed: 7 pregnancy tests under the microscope
Pregnant or not? The first signs that do not deceive
Unusual: Positive pregnancy tests for sale on the Internet
When and how to use a pregnancy test?