The Right Time to Take A Pregnancy Test

The Pregnancy test is the most important way that lets you know whether you are pregnant and brings sheer joy and happiness to your life with its positive result, after a long time of planning and trying for pregnancy. But it is very important to carry out a pregnancy test properly to get the correct and accurate results by avoiding all possible errors. So, one must essentially know which time is the best to carry out a pregnancy test to ensure the accuracy of the test.

How to take a pregnancy test?

A Pregnancy test helps you to know if you are pregnant. If you are planning for pregnancy for a long time, then take the test after having intercourse, and even if you do not plan for it, take the test to be sure about pregnancy, because it is often found that birth controls also are not effective enough to prevent unplanned pregnancy and so there are always chances of getting errors in the test. Pregnancy tests declare you to be ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ for pregnancy by measuring the presence of a hormone known as human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the urine, a hormone that is secreted within your body if only you are pregnant. In order to conduct a pregnancy test, you should collect your first-morning urine after you have missed your periods, in a cup and dip the tube into it to collect some amount of urine in the dropper tube and transfer it into the testing container. Wait for some time for the result to appear. You may get positive or negative results in the test but you should conduct the text a couple of times to make sure you are getting the correct results.

Best time of the day for your pregnancy test:

When you are taking a pregnancy test, the most important thing is to get the test result accurate and to avoid errors in the test. For this, the time of the day when you take the test matters largely. If you are going for a home pregnancy test, then you should perform it in the morning just after you wake up, because your first-morning urine will accurately tell you whether you are pregnant or not as the urine will contain the maximum amount of HCG hormone that the body develops only during pregnancy. Otherwise, if you take the test at night or at any time of the day, you are more likely to get errors.

When should you take a pregnancy test?

There is a proper time to take a pregnancy test. If you do not follow the correct time, you are likely to get errors in your results and so it will be difficult for you to predict whether you are pregnant or not. Here is the list of the conditions when you should go for a pregnancy test:

1. After missing your periods

The most important symptom of pregnancy that appears in the first place is the irregularity in your menstrual cycle and as you miss a couple of days of your period dates. It is very important to keep a track of your menstrual cycle that will help you to notice if you are missing the due date the next month. Though missing a period does not always ensure pregnancy, you should conduct a pregnancy test after you miss a cycle, particularly if it is after having intercourse. You should also consider your doctor for further information.

2. If you experience period cramps

Hormones change radically while you get pregnant, but the intensity varies from one woman to the other, depending on their physiology and the functioning of their body systems. So, during pregnancy, it is often found that women develop feeling cramps in the lower abdomen that feel much similar to that of menstrual cramps. Though this always does not ensure pregnancy, you should consider taking up a pregnancy test to be on the safe side.

3. Your breasts are becoming sensitive

During pregnancy, the female hormones in the mother’s bodywork most effectively to aid in the overall growth and development of the embryo, as a result of which the breasts become swollen, tender, and sensitive and prepare for lactate production using the lactating hormone after childbirth. So, if you are pregnant, you will feel slight pain in your breasts as they become tender and larger due to the high circulation of blood. If you notice these symptoms, go for a pregnancy test positively and consult your doctor.

4. Sudden sense of feeling different

Pregnancy results in a sudden change in the body of the expecting mother. She goes through a number of mental, physiological, and profuse hormonal changes within her body with the time of the child’s arrival. So both the mind and the body feels different and a lot of discomforts begin to happen, such as nausea, vomiting, the sudden feeling of exhaustion and tiredness with an intense sense of fatigue, a strong sense of smell, and frequent urge to urinate along with aversions of food. Once you notice these symptoms, try taking up a pregnancy test.

5. Your Contraception could not work:

It has often been found that if you have no plan for pregnancy, then several types of contraceptives such as birth control pills or condoms are not absolute protective measures to prevent unplanned pregnancy. Even if you were cautious about your technique or your protections, there are slight chances of getting pregnant if you are not taking the birth- control pills or using the protections according to directions and recommendations. So after protected or unprotected intercourse, always consider taking up a pregnancy test to know whether you are pregnant or not. If in case, you feel that you are finding it difficult to take up a test consult your health care expert at once.

Other signs for taking a test:

Apart from the above-mentioned conditions, if you notice the other signs of pregnancy, you should also take a pregnancy test. Some such conditions are as follows:

• Nasal congestion: Though running nose and nasal congestion can both be the symptomsof a common cold, but it is also caused during pregnancy when the body undergoes sudden hormone changes and alterations in blood production and circulation.

• Mood swings: Though sudden mood swings can occur due to a lot of reasons such as anxiety and stress disorders or also due to sudden hormonal changes in your body, sudden changes in your mood cal also be a sign of pregnancy or a pre-natal stress disorder.

• Bloating: Bloating can be an early symptom of pregnancy because during pregnancy your body goes through a lot of hormonal and physiological changes that can make you feel bloated.

• Light spotting: Light spotting, also known as implantation bleeding, is considered as the most important and one of the earliest signs of pregnancy.

• Constipation: In case of pregnancy, conditions such as indigestion, constipation, or lack of proper peristalsis for making you regular, occur due to sudden overall changes in the body.

Are pregnancy tests accurate?

In the majority of cases, pregnancy tests are more or less accurate. But there are chances of getting any false positive or false negative for the test if the test is not conducted properly, for example, you are likely to get errors in your result if you have mistaken the time of your ovulation while taking the test or have not waited for the recommended time after conducting the test.

What ensures your pregnancy?

Early pregnancy has various signs and symptoms that are not the only symptoms that indicate simply pregnancy. Symptoms like nausea, vomiting can occur due to a lot of adversities of health or simply due to indigestion, while other symptoms like missing a period or irregularity in your menstrual cycle can be a result of a number of other gynecological issues apart from pregnancy. Again some pregnancies do not show early symptoms also.

Still, it is always advisable that if you notice the symptoms of early pregnancy such as missing a period, nausea, vomiting, and so on after you had both protected or unprotected sex or even if you are using birth controls, then positively go for a pregnancy test and consult your concerned physician as early as possible. Once you get the results of the test, you can take decisions accordingly. It is always recommended to repeat the test a couple of times to ensure accuracy.