Every woman wants to know when!

When a woman is trying to get pregnant, it can be tempting to want to take a pregnancy test as soon as you think it might give a positive response. However, although today’s pregnancy tests are incredibly sensitive and can, in some cases, indicate a pregnancy several days before you miss a period, it is hard to know when you should take a pregnancy test.

The 5 main factors that influence when a test will give an accurate response:

1. Test sensitivity. Some of the tests on the market are more sensitive than others, and a more sensitive test will be able to detect pregnancy at an earlier stage than one that is less sensitive. Both are highly accurate, so a positive reading on one is just as reliable as a positive reading on another, but more sensitive tests can be done sooner.
2. Liquid Consumption. If you have had more fluids than normal when you take the pregnancy test, it will be harder for the test to detect the hormone that indicates pregnancy (hCG).
3. Time of day. Tests taken in the morning are less likely to be influenced by factors such as liquid consumption, but if you wait until later in the day the fetus may be producing more hCG as it grows.
4. Rate of hCG production. Some fetuses produce more hCG than others. If yours is a little slower, it will take longer to get a positive result on a pregnancy test.
5. Ovulation timing. Unless you know exactly when you ovulate each month, counting the days since your last ovulation can be an uncertain calculation.

Understanding the link

Implantation is a word you have probably never heard before, or if you have, certainly not something that you actively think about when considering your potential pregnancy.

However, if you are wondering when you can take a pregnancy test and get an accurate result, implantation plays an important role in determining the answer. Whether you are worried you might be pregnant or trying to conceive, knowing how a pregnancy test works will allow you to approach the process with more clarity.

How it works

After a woman releases an egg during ovulation and it is fertilized when it meets sperm, the egg travels to the uterus. The uterus will be home to the baby while it develops.

However, in order to move on to the next stage of development, the fertilized egg must attach to the wall of the uterus, a process referred to as implantation because the egg is implanting in the uterine lining. Once the egg has implanted, it is a developing fetus, and it releases a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. This hormone is only released once a fetus has implanted.

Since it is such a unique hormone, it is the one that pregnancy tests are looking for, whether you are using an over-the-counter urine test or your doctor is testing your blood in his office.

What does this mean for pregnancy?

So what does this mean for your pregnancy test? Basically, if you take a test before the fetus has had a chance to implant and to start producing sufficient hCG, you can get a false negative. This means that either the egg is still floating around the uterus or that there is not enough hCG production yet to trigger the positive response on the test. In either case, the test will say you are NOT pregnant even though you ARE!

Every woman wants to know when!

When a woman is trying to get pregnant, it can be tempting to want to take a pregnancy test as soon as you think it might give a positive response. However, although today’s pregnancy tests are incredibly sensitive and can, in some cases, indicate a pregnancy several days before you miss a period, it is hard to know when you should take a pregnancy test.

The 5 main factors that influence when a test will give an accurate response:

1. Test sensitivity. Some of the tests on the market are more sensitive than others, and a more sensitive test will be able to detect pregnancy at an earlier stage than one that is less sensitive. Both are highly accurate, so a positive reading on one is just as reliable as a positive reading on another, but more sensitive tests can be done sooner.
2. Liquid Consumption. If you have had more fluids than normal when you take the pregnancy test, it will be harder for the test to detect the hormone that indicates pregnancy (hCG).
3. Time of day. Tests taken in the morning are less likely to be influenced by factors such as liquid consumption, but if you wait until later in the day the fetus may be producing more hCG as it grows.
4. Rate of hCG production. Some fetuses produce more hCG than others. If yours is a little slower, it will take longer to get a positive result on a pregnancy test.
5. Ovulation timing. Unless you know exactly when you ovulate each month, counting the days since your last ovulation can be an uncertain calculation.