Many women would like to know they are pregnant as soon as possible. This allows them to receive timely prenatal care and avoid doing or eating things that may be harmful to the developing baby. Although women can do many things at home to try to detect pregnancy, they should always confirm their suspicions by going to a doctor.
Early Pregnancy Symptoms
A woman may develop pregnancy symptoms before getting a positive pregnancy test. A missed menstrual period, sore or sensitive breasts, nausea or vomiting, fatigue, food cravings or aversions, unusual spotting, a heightened sense of smell, headaches and constipation are common signs a woman may be pregnant, explains the medical advisory board of BabyCenter.com. Since early pregnancy symptoms often are similar to symptoms that occur right before a woman gets her period, women experiencing early pregnancy symptoms should call a doctor to confirm pregnancy is what is causing these symptoms.
At-Home Methods
Many women turn to home pregnancy tests when trying to determine if they are pregnant. These tests are widely available at most drugstores and supermarkets, and are easy to use. They work by checking to see if the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, is present in the urine.
Another early indicator of pregnancy is basal body temperature--the temperature taken first thing after waking. The basal body temperature rises about halfway through a woman's menstrual cycle after she ovulates. When a woman is pregnant, her basal body temperature will stay elevated for more than 14 days.
Seeing a Doctor
The surest way to detect a pregnancy is to see the doctor. Doctors may use a urine test similar to that of a home pregnancy test to detect pregnancy, but often will use blood tests. The two types of blood tests used to detect pregnancy are qualitative blood tests and quantitative blood tests. Qualitative blood tests give a yes-or-no result similar to a urine pregnancy test, but quantitative blood tests will measure the exact about of hCG in the woman's bloodstream. Doctors may also perform a pelvic exam or give women an ultrasound to detect or confirm pregnancy.
A woman going to see a doctor for the purpose of detecting pregnancy should be prepared to provide all pertinent information, including the date of her last menstrual cycle, the typical length and duration of her menstruation, any early pregnancy symptoms she is experiencing and possible dates of conception.
Time Frame
Many women will start detecting signs they are pregnant about two weeks after conception. While this is generally around the same time they miss their period, it may be earlier or later depending upon the individual woman and the specific circumstances. The accuracy of different methods of detecting pregnancy also vary depending upon when the method is used. For example, blood pregnancy tests can accurately detect pregnancy as soon as seven to 12 days after conception, but basal body temperature charts, pelvic exams and ultrasounds will only detect pregnancy after a missed period.
Although many home pregnancy tests will claim to be 99 percent effective before a woman misses her period, the Mayo Clinic website states that research suggests most home pregnancy tests will not be this effective at detecting pregnancy this early. Many home pregnancy tests are only accurate after a woman misses her period. Women who are anxious to find out whether they are pregnant before they miss their period may want to consider a blood pregnancy test at a doctor's office instead.
Warning
Home pregnancy tests also can give false-positive or false-negative results. False-positive results generally happen when a woman is on certain medications or uses an expired pregnancy test. False-negative results typically occur when a woman takes the test too early or does not follow the instructions of the test properly.
