Top pregnancy tests can provide the first definitive proof to a woman that she is pregnant.
There are other tests which evaluate the health condition of a fetus, but those are issues for later on. Right now, you want to simply have the evidence that you’re pregnant.
You can go get an at-home test for pregnancy which the manufacturers claim is 99% effective when used as instructed. These tests are pretty much good news.
They are widely available, they appear to be extremely reliable, the accuracy rate is about the same as the urine pregnancy test performed in the doctor’s office, you can take the test almost anywhere you have a bathroom, the test itself takes only a few minutes and you don’t need a prescription to get one!
The test itself measures Human Chorionic Gonadotripinn (HGC), a pregnancy hormone as found in the urine. This hormone is released by the placenta after pregnancy begins.
Typically, HGC isn’t released until about 10 days after pregnancy begins, so you could actually get a false negative if you test too early. This means the test should not be taken until 10 days after the last menstrual period.
This of course means that the at-home test is not really able to be called one of the first signs of pregnancy, because you have to wait until the pregnancy is firmly begun, and hormone production can be measured in the urine.
For those of you who want some tips
1) read the instructions!
2) take the test early in the morning,
3) don’t drink too much liquid or you’ll dilute that which you’re trying to measure,
4) check what drugs might interfere with the test (if there are any).
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