7 Simple Steps How To Take A Pregnancy Test 2024

Hello, welcome to Medical Advice Channel, today I want to show you how to take a pregnancy test in 2024, or, if you are a medic, how to administer a pregnancy test. Stay with me till the end of the article, I promise you that I will try and answer your every question.

How Does A Pregnancy Test Work?

You may be asking yourself how a pregnancy test kit works, let me explain it to you. This test measures the amount of hCG hormone in your urine. hCG is the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin hormone. hCG is a hormone produced by the placenta. So if this hormone is present in your urine, it is possibly saying that during your last menstrual cycle, you released an egg(Ovum), and then a sperm fertilized that egg. The now fertilized egg travelled down and implanted itself in your uterus and you are growing a baby.

how soon to take a pregnancy test

You may be asking yourself, how soon to take a pregnancy test? or when should you take a pregnancy test? Well, generally speaking, it is recommended to wait until you have missed your period, but there are some tests on the market that claim that their pregnancy test kits can detect pregnancy a little bit earlier.

But always remember to always read the instructions on whichever type of pregnancy test you are using.

Are All Pregnancy Test Kits The Same?

Now, pregnancy test kits are usually the same in terms of what they test for, however, these tests might display results differently depending on the brand you are using. Some will display the results electronically while others will display them manually.

The Best Time To Take A Pregnancy Test.

Generally speaking, you are allowed to take as well the pregnancy test at any time, but for the best results, it is highly recommended that you take the test in the morning time. Why is this? Because your urine is highly concentrated with hCG particularly in the morning, making it the perfect time.

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How To Take A Pregnancy Test

How The Kit Looks Like

In this next image, you see a C and a T.  The C is the control area, and you will always get a line here. The function of this line is to indicate that the kit is working and that you have put enough urine samples. The T part is the test part, and if you are pregnant, a line will pop up here, and that is how to get a pregnancy test to be positive. This line is brought up by the presence of hCG in your urine.

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What You Need

1. The pregnancy test.
2. You’ll need a cup to catch your urine in
3. you’ll need a timer either a watch or your phone
4. if you’re in a clinical setting. You’ll need a pair of gloves.

Now that you have all the equipment, follow the following step;

• Wash your hands very well with soap and water, this is to avoid contaminating the urine sample you will be using.
• Then collect the urine specimen in the cup
• Wash your hands again with soap and water.
• Put 3 drops of urine in the area pointed below. Now just wait patiently – The duration might vary. Most tests take anywhere between 5 – 10 minutes.

In terms of how long it takes how it takes for the line how to pop up, will vary from person to person depending on how far along you are in your pregnancy. So read the manufacturer’s results for how long you need to wait before you read the test results.

How To Interpret A Pregnancy Test Results

I did two tests for this article just to show you what the results might look like. One sample of the urine is from a pregnant mother, and the next is mine. This means we will have positive and negative results. The top container contains urine that has hCG while the bottom container contains urine that does not have hCG in it, which is mine, and I am a man so I shouldn’t have hCG in my urine.

So next I added three drops of urine to each test and I waited for three minutes because for this particular test. The manufacturer’s user manual instructed that I had to wait three minutes to read the results. Reading past this recommended time would risk reading the incorrect results.

So after three minutes, I was ready to interpret my results. So as you can see here in these tests I have a line in both of the control areas. This tells us we added enough urine, and that these test kits are working fine. However, in the top pregnancy test, there is a line in the test area, so it’s positive, which tells us that it detected hCG in the urine.

However, here on the bottom kit, there is no line in this test area, so it is negative, it tells us that it did not detect any hCG in that urine sample.

Positive Pregnancy Test? What Next 

what do you do if you get positive results? I would recommend that you call your doctor, or your OB-GYN to let them know. You should also visit your hospital so that you start prenatal care for a pregnant mother, which is very important to ensure that you take care of both yourself and your growing baby.

If you have any other conditions like diabetes or hypertension, you should also ensure that you visit your doctor because you are at a particular greater risk and you need specialized care.

Negative Pregnancy test Results? What Next?

Let’s say you get a negative result yet you still have not had your period, you may be asking yourself what’s going on. What I can advice you is to wait a little bit longer and then maybe redo the test. If it is still negative, visit your nearest hospital to seek medical consultation because that is not normal. Your doctor might do further investigations to find out what the problem might be.

If this article was helpful, leave a comment letting us know.

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