How to Prepare for Home Pregnancy Tests
Home Pregnancy Tests Expert posted in Pregnancy Tests on February 28th, 2007
Contrary to what others may believe, the average obstetrician did not demonstrate distaste for home pregnancy tests. In fact, some obstetricians accepted the home pregnancy tests more quickly than their patients. In the mid 1980s, this writer went to her obstetrician. She suspected that she was pregnant with her second child. She had not yet used a pregnancy test kit. Her doctor had never suggested such a kit, and this writer was therefore surprised to hear her doctor ask if she had used one before arriving in his office. His inquiry suggested to her that he expected many women to test at home before finally appearing at a doctor’s office.
The difference between home pregnancy tests and pregnancy tests in doctor’s office can be summed up in one word—homework. A woman who plans to take one of the home pregnancy tests must first do a bit of “homework.” She must study carefully certain information.
First, she must peruse the directions that are provided with the test kit. Only by doing a careful reading of those directions can a woman know for certain that she has followed each direction to the letter. The taking of home pregnancy tests does not allow for the assumption that a doctor will be able to monitor each part of the test. In the absence of a physician’s guidance, a woman must be sure to read and follow the directions.
If the woman who plans to take one of the home pregnancy tests is also taking another medication, then she must read the insert that came with that medication. Even if she is taking fertility drugs, she will still need to make certain that those drugs will not interfere with the production of human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG). The home pregnancy tests all measure the level of hCG in either the blood or the urine.
Regardless of which fluid will be tested by the woman’s chosen home pregnancy kit, that fluid should not be unintentionally diluted. A diluted fluid will not give an accurate result. For that reason, a woman should not drink an excessive amount of any fluid prior to the time when she plans to collect the test sample.
If a woman has decided to use one of the kits that have called for collection of a urine sample, then she should take that sample first thing in the morning. In the event that she could not obtain a sample at that time, the woman who plans to use the pregnancy test kit must hold a urine test sample in her bladder for at least 4 hours. A urine sample taken before the completion of that 4 hour period is apt to give an incorrect result.
Satisfaction of those 4 conditions will allow a woman to be fully prepared for taking one of the home pregnancy tests. It is the job of the woman who plans to take the test to make sure that she has satisfied all four conditions. She might want to prepare for herself a checklist of what she needs to do.
The checklist could serve as a reminder. It might also be a place where the woman could record her completion of a piece of her “homework.” That recording process might serve as a sort of “reward” for her efforts. Of course the real reward would come in the form of a positive test result.