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Home Pregnancy Test

Home Pregnancy Test Overview

If you think you are pregnant, you may want to test yourself at home with a home pregnancy test. You can buy test kits at a drug store without a prescription. Home use kits measure a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in your urine. However, these tests are qualitative, the results are either positive or negative for pregnancy.

The most sensitive test of pregnancy is best performed by a laboratory using a sample of your blood. These tests not only detect hCG but also can indicate the amount (quantitative tests) of the hormone, which doubles every 2-3 days during the first several weeks of pregnancy. These more sensitive tests can tell how long you have been pregnant and even detect possible problems with the pregnancy. Your health care provider can perform this test.

Initially, many women prefer the privacy, convenience, and quick results from home test kits. Home pregnancy tests are not as accurate as blood tests done by your health care provider. They also cannot determine if your pregnancy is developing as expected.

The hormone hCG may be detected in urine about 2 weeks after conception (when the egg is fertilized by sperm).

With the home test kit, you place a drop of your urine on a prepared chemical strip. It usually takes 1 or 2 minutes for the strip to indicate the result.



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Miscarriage Overview

A miscarriage (also termed spontaneous abortion) is any pregnancy that spontaneously ends before the fetus can survive. Any vaginal bleeding, other than spotting, during early pregnancy is considered a threatened miscarriage. Vaginal bleeding is very common in early pregnancy. About one out of every four pregnant women has some bleeding during the first few months. About half of these women stop bleeding and complete a normal pregnancy.

  • Threatened miscarriage - Vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy. The bleeding and pain with threatened miscarriage are usually mild and the cervical os (the mouth of the womb) is closed. Your health care provider will be able to determine if the cervical os is open upon performing a pelvic exam. Typically, no tissue is passed from the womb. The womb and Fallopian tubes may be tender.

  • Inevitable miscarriage ...

Read the Miscarriage article »



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