FAQ PREGNANCY

Q. What does hCG mean?

hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) is a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy. Home pregnancy tests are designed to detect it. It is important that your pregnancy test detect the lowest hCG levels. These tests are more sensitive and give the earliest results. Our tests are at 20mIUs, the lowest level in the market, which means the most sensitive ones.

Q. What are the symptoms of pregnancy?

A. The first pregnancy symptom is the missing period. It is called as Amenorrhea. For a woman who has a regular menstrual period and has had unprotected sexual intercourse and if her menstrual period fails to occur on the expected date, it must be concluded that she is pregnant. Many women experience breast fullness and discomfort just prior to menstrual period. If pregnancy occurs, these symptoms persist and are increased. The breasts become fuller, firmer and more tender. Occasionally they throb and the nipples tingle. In about half of the pregnant women some degree of nausea or vomiting occurs. It usually occurs about two weeks after the first missed period.

Q. How do you know if you are pregnant?

A. The best method to know if you are pregnant is to go for a pregnancy test. Symptoms may not always confirm pregnancy and also symptoms might appear quite late, say after 6-7 weeks. You can do a pregnancy test at home with the help of a pregnancy test kit.

Q. What is a pregnancy test kit?

A. A pregnancy test kit is a very simple strip that lets you know your pregnancy status by testing your urine. It works by detecting the presence of "hCG" (human chorionic gonadotropin) hormone that is formed after the fertilisation of the ovum with a sperm. The card has two windows at two ends:

1. test window where you put 2-3 drops of urine for testing,
2. result window, where the results appear.
The test window and the result window are connected by a blotting tissue that is smeared with a chemical sensitive to hCG.

Q. When and how to do the pregnancy test?

A. It is generally recommended to do the pregnancy test on the first day of the missing period or any day after that. If you do the test before the expected date of the periods, the result might not be 100 percent correct, since the level of HCG in the urine might not be significant enough to affect the test result.

To conduct the test, buy a BeSure kit from any chemist shop.

It is generally recommended to do the test with the first morning urine sample. Although you can do the test any time during the day with a fresh sample, the first morning sample gives you the best result.

Collect urine in a clean container and put 2-3 drops of urine on the test window provided. The urine starts moving towards the result window through the blotting tissue. Within 5 minutes, if you get one red colour band appearing in the result window, pregnancy is negative. If there are two parallel red colour bands appearing, pregnancy is positive.