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Preferably, you should wait about a week after the first day of your expected period. If your hCG levels are higher than normal, you’ll receive a positive pregnancy test result. A test may ask you to collect your urine in a cup and dip the test inside the liquid. If you take it too late, you can miss out on important prenatal care, which helps ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy. If it’s a white, noticeable layer, you’re going to have a baby. Once you put on the protective gear, fill ¼ of a cup with Drano.
In fact, the fertilized egg has to travel to your uterus first, which can take up to a couple weeks. Before taking a pregnancy test, don’t drink more water than you normally would. Drinking a lot of water can dilute your urine and affect the result of your test. Choosing when to take a pregnancy test is an important decision.
What symptoms do you have at 1 week pregnant? ›
There are a number of signs which may be early indicators of pregnancy. The most common is a disruption of the menstrual cycle resulting in a missed period. Other signs include cramping, fatigue, morning sickness, headaches, back pain, dizziness, constipation, and frequent urination. Because many of these are indicative of other conditions, a pregnancy blood test is recommended to accurately determine if you are pregnant. When you’re pregnant, you’ll start to produce the pregnancy hormone hCG . A urine test can be done at home to detect levels of hCG.

Trying to figure out if you need to take a pregnancy test? The salt pregnancy test is best done as an all-in-good-fun experiment. It has no medical backing, scientific basis, or physician endorsement. There are no published studies supporting this idea or the test in general. Qualitative tests measure whether hCG is present in your blood or urine.
When to Get a Blood Pregnancy Test
If you test positive, you will see a chemical interaction between the hCG in your urine and the material being tested. The more sensitive your test, the longer it will take for hCG to show up after fertilization has occurred. Home pregnancy tests usually work by detecting hCG, which is found in both pregnant and non-pregnant women.

Every woman produces different amounts of hCG and it's not even the same for each pregnancy. If the test shows a negative or a faintly positive result, wait another few days and try again if you still haven't gotten your period. Maybe you ovulated later in your cycle than you thought and took the test too early to get a positive result. The best way to tell if a test is sensitive enough to pick up the smaller amounts is to read the fine print. Some urine pregnancy tests can detect lower levels of hCG. Getting a negative pregnancy test result does not necessarily mean your urine does not contain hCG—especially if it's taken before a missed period.
How soon can you take a pregnancy test after sex?
It’s the most common natural pregnancy test among women. That’s why your levels are mostly likely to be picked up by a urine test on or after the date of your missed period, despite the claims of “early result” tests. Quantitative pregnancy tests measure the amount of pregnancy hormone in your blood. Ifyour cycles are irregularor you don’tchart your cycles, do not take a test until you have passed the longest menstrual cycle you usually have. For example, if your cycles range from 30 to 36 days, the best time to take a test would be day 37 or later. You should take a pregnancy test after your first missed period for the most accurate pregnancy test results.
If you’re looking for a natural pregnancy test, use dandelion leaves — the plant can tell you if you’re expecting. If your head is buzzing with all these questions, you should find out if you’re pregnant. An ectopic pregnancy, menopause or problems with your ovaries also might contribute to misleading test results. Although rare, it's possible to get a positive result from a home pregnancy test when you're not actually pregnant. If using urine collected in a container, dip the specific part of the test stick into the cup for 5 – 10 seconds. This test can be used up to five days before a missed period.
When To Take Pregnancy Test at Home
But a small number of women prefer savory or salty fare, the review authors noted. It usually takes a few weeks for progesterone and hCG levels to get high enough to start experiencing symptoms. Unlike at-home urine tests, blood tests are usually done in a clinical setting.

Brandi Jones MSN-Ed, RN-BC is a board-certified registered nurse who owns Brandi Jones LLC, where she writes health and wellness blogs, articles, and education. She lives with her husband and springer spaniel and enjoys camping and tapping into her creativity in her downtime. Call your OB-GYN or midwife to schedule your first prenatal appointment and confirm your pregnancy. Write down the first day of your last period to help calculate your due date.
Every piece of content at Flo Health adheres to the highest editorial standards for language, style, and medical accuracy. To learn what we do to deliver the best health and lifestyle insights to you, check out our content review principles. Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Knowing how pregnancy tests work can help you understand when to take them. Pregnancy tests relay how urine reacts with a piece of paper that can detect the presence of hCG. You may decide to take a pregnancy test because you are having early pregnancy symptoms.

Some sources say to wait a few minutes, while others say to wait a couple hours. A quick scan of popular TTC message boards reveals that some testers leave the mixture for up to 8 hours or more. Then, collect a small amount of first-morning urine in the other container. This is especially true if your period is not yet late, or if your period is only a couple days late.
There is a stick for early pregnancy detection, one for when you miss your period, and one for after your missed period. It includes the First Response Early Detection test, as well as their digital test and their rapid test. If you’re pregnant, the home pregnancy test will pick up the pregnancy hormone. The further along you are in your pregnancy, the more hCG will be detected.
If a negative test doesn't bother you, and you have the cash to spend on pregnancy tests, go ahead. If a negative result is going to make your heart ache or if you’d rather not waste money on extra tests, then wait until your period is late. Many home pregnancy tests claim to be accurate as early as the first day of a missed period — or even before. You're likely to get more accurate results, however, if you wait until after the first day of your missed period. A pregnancy test is usually advisable for a woman who misses a period as this is a common indicator of pregnancy.