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What you need to know about Pregnancy Tests

A pregnancy test is done in the office of a doctor or at the convenience of your home. Taking a pregnancy test is quite the best way to determine if pregnancy has occurred or not. Pregnancy tests detect the presence of the pregnancy hormone hCG or human Chorionic Gonadotropin on a woman's body fluid such as urine and blood. Its presence is a definite sign of pregnancy since the only time a woman produces this hCG hormone is when she becomes pregnant.

The hormone hCG is created in the female body when implantation of a fertilized egg occurs in the lining of the uterus. It usually occurs within 6 days after fertilization in women in general. Then the levels of hCG increase every day at a significant rate.

Based on studies, the best time to take a pregnancy test is a week after the missed menstrual period so as to get accurate results.

Urine Pregnancy Tests :

Pregnancy tests come in a variety of types and brands. These tests are all based on one principle, the presence of the hormone hCG in the urine. A pregnancy test using urine as a sample gives faster results rather than blood tests.

Urine pregnancy tests are available in most pharmacies and grocery stores. Prices range from as low as $8 to as much as $20, depending on what brand and the number of tests found in a package.

There are a lot of pregnancy tests in the market that claim that they can let you know if pregnancy is positive or not as early as on the day you miss your period. Unfortunately, there is the possibility of having false negative results since levels of hCG, if present, are not high enough to produce a positive result.

Blood Pregnancy Tests :

For early confirmation of pregnancy, as early as 6-8 days after ovulation, the best pregnancy test to use is a blood pregnancy test. A pregnancy test that uses blood as a sample can detect the hormone hCG easier and earlier as compared to using urine. Unfortunately, it takes several days to get the results to the blood pregnancy test.

Healthcare providers have two kinds of blood pregnancy tests. The first blood pregnancy test measures quantitatively the amount of the hormone hCG in the blood sample. It can detect trace amounts of the hormone hCG in the blood, making it an extremely accurate test. The second type of blood pregnancy test is the qualitative test that just checks if the hormone hCG is present in the blood sample, which is quite similar to the urine pregnancy test.