Most women know that no form of birth control, even the pill, is 100 percent effective. And a woman taking the pill might have reason to wonder at some point if she might be pregnant. She might also wonder if the results of a pregnancy test can be accurate. Actually, taking the pill can make it easier for a woman to determine if she's pregnant.
How To Determine Pregnancy
Step 1
Watch for a missed period. Most women start their periods on the second or third day of placebo pills in their birth control pack. (The placebo pills are the last seven pills in the pack and are usually a different color.) If a woman makes it all the way through her placebo pills without starting a period, this is a sign that she may be pregnant.
Step 2
Take a home pregnancy test. While tests advertise that they are accurate several days before a missed period, Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel note in their book, "What To Expect When You're Expecting," that the tests are far more likely to give an accurate response a day or two after an expected period. Don't worry about the birth control pills affecting the test. Dr. Miriam Stoppard points out in "Conception, Pregnancy and Birth" that only medications containing hCG can affect pregnancy tests. Birth control pills contain no hCG.
Step 3
Follow up the home pregnancy test. A 2004 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology notes that home pregnancy tests are only 90 percent accurate on the first day of a missed period, meaning that many pregnant women will continue to test negative for up to a week or more afterward. If an initial home pregnancy test turns up negative,wait a week and (assuming no menstrual period arrives in the interim) try again.
Step 4
Confirm with a physician. If a home pregnancy test reveals a pregnancy (or if more than a week goes by without a period), it's worth visiting an obstetrician to have a blood test done. Physician's offices can test for hCG, the pregnancy hormone, in the blood rather than in the urine, which increases the accuracy of the test. Some women don't seem to clear hCG from the blood into the urine, and for these individuals, home pregnancy tests will never work (even when they're visibly pregnant).
Things You'll Need
- 2 home pregnancy tests
References
- "What to Expect When You're Expecting"; Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel; 2008
- "American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology"; ccuracy of home pregnancy tests at the time of missed menses; L. Cole, et al; 2004
