Aside from that most remarkable of diagnostic tools, a woman’s intuition, modern medical science is still your best bet when it comes to diagnosing a pregnancy accurately. Luckily, these days there are many ways to find out for sure that you’ve got a baby on board:

The Home Pregnancy Test:  It’s as easy as one-two-pee, and you can do it all in the privacy and comfort of your own bathroom. Home pregnancy tests (HPTs) are not only quick and accurate, but you can even start using some brands before you’ve missed your period (Though accuracy will get better as you get closer to P-day).

All Hpts measure urinary levels of human chorionic gonadotropin, a placenta-produced hormone of pregnancy. HCG finds its way into your bloodstream and urine almost immediately after an embryo begins implanting in the uterus, between 6 and 12 days after fertilization. As soon as HCG can be detected in your urine, you can get a positive reading. But there is a limit to how soon these HPTs can work, they’re sensitive, but not always that sensitive. One week after conception there’s HCG in your urine, but its not enough for the HPT to pick up-which means that if you test seven days before your expected period, you’re likely to get a false negative even if you’re pregnant.

Just can’t wait to pee on that stick? Some tests promise 60 percent accuracy four days before your expected period. Not a betting woman? Wait until the day your period is expected, and you’ll have about a 90 percent chance of netting the correct result. Test a week later, and the accuracy rate jumps to 97 percent. Whenever you decide to take the testing plunge, the good news is that false positives are much less common than false negatives-which means that if your test is positive, you can be, too. The other good news, because HPTs provide a very accurate diagnosis very early in pregnancy-earlier than you would probably consider consulting a physician or midwife-they can give you the opportunity to start taking optimum care of yourself within days of conception. Still. Medical follow-up to the test is essential. If the result is positive, have it confirmed by a blood test and a complete prenantal checkup.

The blood test: The more sophisticated blood pregnancy test can detect pregnancy with virtually 100percent accuracy as early as on week after conception, using just a few drops of blood. It can also help date the pregnancy by measuring the exact amount of HCG in the blood.

The medical exam: Though a medical exam can be performed to confirm the diagnosis of a pregnancy to confirm the diagnosis of a pregnancy, with today’s accurate HPTs and blood tests, the medical exam which looks for physical signs of pregnancy such as enlargement of the uterus.

Article Posted By : sreevani  On June 01, 2013lView All Articles

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