Overview of Home Pregnancy Tests

Home pregnancy tests detect pregnancy by diagnosing the presence of a hormone called hCG or Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. The placenta of a woman starts secreting hCG almost immediately after the egg gets implanted into her uterus. You can expect most accurate results from home pregnancy tests done during the morning; this is because the hCG stays in more concentrated form in one’s morning urine.

What should you look for during a home pregnancy test? Put a drop of your urine on the testing device and wait for 5 minutes; you will see color bands or stripes appearing on the devices control section. Appearance of control stripe is the indicator of the fact that your test is in the right track. The device’s test section will inform you whether you have conceived or not. Appearance of a plus sign or even an extremely faint line on the test section is regarded as positive result. Women getting a faint line on the test section are advised to repeat the test after 48 hours. After a gap of 48 hours, the concentration of hCG in the woman’s urine might increase, which will result in appearance of a denser and darker line in the device’s test section.

There are certain home pregnancy tests that can detect even low hCG levels. The earliest phase, in which the test can start showing up accurate results, is around 5 days prior to the scheduled starting date of the next period or 7-10 days following an ovulation. However, these are only rough estimates. If the home pregnancy test taken five days before the scheduled starting date of your period comes up with negative results, it does not mean that you have not conceived. The negative result can also show up because you have done a test too early.

To make sure that the home pregnancy test is showing up accurate results, you must follow all the guidelines carefully and make sure that you are not using the test before time.  Also, you must also check expiration date of your home pregnancy test device before using it.

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