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Home Pregnancy Tests
Home pregnancy tests (HPT) work by determining if you have any HCG (a pregnancy hormone) in your urine. If HCG is detected, the test should be positive and if it’s not you’ll get a negative result. Some home pregnancy tests are more sensitive than others and can tell you if you are pregnant a few days before a missed period. Other tests will only detect HCG as early as a missed period. You have to read the box carefully to make sure you are getting the one you want to buy. The only down side to the early result ones are knowing you are pregnant and then having a chemical pregnancy. A chemical pregnancy is an early pregnancy loss that happens before you have your first ultrasound. The egg fertilizes but usually does not implant properly.
Most home pregnancy tests are very accurate. There is little chance of having a false positive because the test detects HCG in the urine. It wouldn’t give you a positive if there was no HCG in your urine. There is a chance of having a false negative because if you test too early and your body hasn’t built up enough HCG in the urine yet, it may not be detected through a test. If you get a negative result but still feel you may be pregnant, wait at least two days and try a new test. HCG should double every 48 hours. I have heard of a few women that were pregnant but for some reason they got a negative on an HPT. The most accurate way to determine if you are pregnant is to have blood work done at your doctor’s office.
Digital home pregnancy tests are the newest HPT’s on the market. They really take all of the guesswork out of interpreting the test. Most of us have been confused by light or faint lines as well as evaporation lines on pregnancy tests. With a digital test it reads “pregnant” or “not pregnant”. There are no faint lines or hard to read lines. It also takes some of the anxiety away from early pregnancy and wondering whether you have enough HCG in your urine. The one down side to digital tests is that they are more expensive.
Overall, based on my experience, there are not any bad HPT’s on the market. I have used everything form digital ones to Walmart’s brand, Equate. I have never had any trouble taking or reading the results on any test. They have always been very reliable to me. I actually prefer the cheaper ones because they are just the same as the name brands like EPT and First Response but they cost less.
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