If you are currently in the waiting period, wondering if you may or may not be pregnant, you may feel mixed emotions. You might be excited, nervous, scared, or confused.
Your first step is to take a pregnancy test. We at Crossroads Women’s Center offer free pregnancy testing so you can begin gaining clarity. If your test result is positive, we can also provide a no-cost ultrasound to verify essential pregnancy details.
Taking a Pregnancy Test
If you have ever walked down the pregnancy test aisle in a store, you might have noticed the colorful array of choices. Some are basic test strips, and others offer digital displays. You may see a few that say they can provide an answer before your missed period.
When you see these claims, make sure to read the fine print. While pregnancy tests are usually 99% accurate the day after your missed period, an early test like Clearblue’s early detection pregnancy test is only about 77% accurate six days before a missed period.
The accuracy increases with time as you wait for your missed period.
When to Take a Pregnancy Test
If you can wait, take a pregnancy test the day after your missed period when there’s a greater chance of an accurate result. Follow the instructions on the box.
If you can’t stand waiting and want to take an early pregnancy test, you definitely can. The only issue is that you may not be able to trust a negative result yet.
After receiving a negative result, wait until after your missed period to take another test. It could be that the hormone hCG (what pregnancy tests detect) has not risen to detectable levels yet, and you need to wait a little longer.
If you receive a positive early pregnancy result, you can likely trust this result because false positives are rare. However, you may want to confirm again after a missed period. We at Crossroads can help!
It’s Positive. What’s Next?
A positive pregnancy test can tell you whether or not you’re pregnant but doesn’t provide information such as how far along you are, whether the pregnancy is progressing, and if it is located inside the uterus and not ectopic.
Your next step is to receive an ultrasound scan to learn these details. Once you receive positive pregnancy testing results with us at Crossroads Women’s Center, we can offer you an ultrasound next.
Not only do we provide free pregnancy services, but we also offer emotional support and medically sourced answers to questions regarding general health, pregnancy, abortion, and parenting.
Schedule your pregnancy testing appointment today. You are not alone.