How to do Pregnancy test

Beta hCG test for pregnancy

Have you missed the menses more than 1 month...? Have you involved in suspicious sexual activity, Then you may need to know "Am I pregnant..?". This is the one of the most important question in women. After the marriage most of the women need to get pregnant soon. As they want to have a child. In the hand women with no seek of having a child also want to know whether they have pregnant. Therefore the pregnancy tests are very important. They are also available as home pregnancy kits. Therefore it is very easy for you get a idea of whether you have got a pregnancy or not.

What are the tests available for pregnancy

Human beta- hCG is a very important hormone secreted by the placenta. Therefore it there is a pregnancy, you can detect the pregnancy by simply checking the presence of appropriate levels of beta - hCG. This is present in both blood and the urine 2 weeks after the ovulation. It is first seen in blood and then in the urine.
There are 2 types of hCG test are available.
1. Urine beta hCG test to detect the presence of the hCG on urine
2. Serum beta hCG test to detect the quantity of hCG on Blood

How to perform the urine beta hCG test

Urine hCG is a indicator of the presence of hCG in the serum. Therefore we have to take a urine sample and put a drop of urine into a chemical strip. There we can see a significant color change. However, there are Home pregnancy kit are available and you even need not to see health care personal to interpret it. It is very simple method. However there may be false negative results when you do the test very early even before the implantation take place. Also the false positives may be seen as a result of drugs, disease conditions or as a result of other hormones. However if you are sure that you are pregnant you can do the test after 2 - 3 days.

How to perform serum beta hCG test

This is more accurate method of confirming pregnancy where as the urine test plays a role in detecting the pregnancy. Here, we have to talk small amount of blood and do the test. Usually in normal pregnancy serum beta hCG should double in each 48 hrs. Therefore sometimes we have to take 2 blood samples in 48 hours apart. You can get an idea on serum hCG levels on the following table.

Time from Last Menstrual Period	beta hCG level
3     weeks	5 - 50 mIU/ml
4     weeks	5 - 426 mIU/ml
5     weeks	18 - 7,340 mIU/ml
6        weeks	1,080 - 56,500 mIU/ml
7 -8     weeks	7, 650 - 229,000 mIU/ml
9 - 12     weeks	25,700 - 288,000 mIU/ml
13 - 16   weeks	13,300 - 254,000 mIU/ml
17 - 24   weeks	4,060 - 165,400 mIU/ml
25 - 40    weeks	3,640 - 117,000 mIU/ml
Non pregnant	55-200 ng/ml

Also the Ultra sound scanning plays a very important role in the diagnosing the pregnancy.

Reference :
1. Online Pregnancy Care :Fertilization and implantation of baby
2. You tube : confirmation of pregnancy at home