Home Pregnancy Test
If you think that you might be pregnant, you may be considering dashing over to the druggist to get your hands on a home pregnancy test. If that is the case, you may be wondering about how a home pregnancy test actually works.
In simple, basic terms, a home pregnancy test measures the presence of a particular hormone in your urine. That hormone is human chorionic gonadotrophin or hCG. This particular hormone actually is secreted at the point in time that the fertilised egg is implanted in the uterus itself. Implantation normally occurs about five to six days following fertilisation. The hormone actually is released by the particular cells that will carry on to form the placenta.
The levels of this hormone, hCG, build up rapidly in your body following the implantation of the egg in the uterus, particularly during the first several days following this event. The levels of hCG actually peak between the 60th and the 90th days following conception.
Normally, a home pregnancy test is able to pick up the presence of hCG within your urine as early as the first day that you miss your period if you do experience fairly regular periods.
Keep in mind that merely because you have a negative test result with a home pregnancy test does not mean that you might not actually be pregnant. The negative test result may have occurred simply because the levels of the hormone mentioned previously in this article, hCG, simply have not reached a point where they can be detected by the home pregnancy test. Therefore, you likely will want to wait a few days and try the test again.
You also need to keep in mind that not all home pregnancy tests are the same. For example, there are some tests that are more sensitive to the presence of hCG and can detect the presence of this hormone even when only a small amount it may be present. These more sensitive tests normally will end up costing a bit more money than home pregnancy tests that are not as sensitive.
Of course, only a test administered by your doctor can allow you to be certain that you are in fact pregnant. Therefore, on the heals of taking a home pregnancy test that indicates that you are in fact pregnant, you should make an appointment to see your doctor.