Home pregnancy tests

PregnancyConfirmation
What is a home pregnancy test?

A home pregnancy test measures the presence of the hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in your urine. This hormone is first secreted at the time the fertilised egg implants in the uterus (about six days after fertilisation) by the cells which go on to form the placenta. Levels of the hormone build up rapidly in your body in the first few days following implantation. Usually, home-pregnancy tests should be able to pick up the hCG in your urine by the first day you miss your period. Levels of hCG peak between the 60th and 90th days of pregnancy.

If you have a negative result when you first test, it may be that the levels of hCG have not yet reached a level where they can be detected by a test, even by the day your period is due, so you may want to wait a few days then test again.

Not all pregnancy tests are the same. Some are more sensitive and usually more expensive as a result. The more sensitive tests can detect pregnancy even if you have only a small amount of hCG in your system. Concentrations of hCG are reported in milliInternational Units (mIU) or amounts equal to 1/1000th of an IU per millilitre. A test with a sensitivity of 20 IU/L is more sensitive than one with 50 IU/L. You should be able to find this information on any pregnancy test box.

Pregnancy Kits

There are many popular kits are available these days. like Acutest, Clearview, velocid pregnancy test kits. all these are based on HCG detection principle. not something special.

Remember you need to take early morning sample (First Urine In Morning). Take urine in dropper, put 3 drops of urine in a round well, do not put anything on rectangular block where you see “C T” is written. C means control and T means Test. You can read this test with in 5 minutes. If you see two pink lines one at C and another at T that means you are pregnant, i.e result is positive. If you see only one pink line at C that means test is negative. If you do not see any line, it means test is invalid. Either kit has expired, or proper urine sample is not taken.

Sometimes if you do the test early the other line is a bit lighter as hCG will be a bit lower, but don’t worry. You are definetly pregnant.

Below is a excellent Youtube video showing a Pregnancy test using test kit .