Pregnancy Test

Early Signs of Pregnancy

October 11, 2013Leah LovePregnancyEarly Signs of Pregnancy, Pregnancy TestComments Off

I doubt I ever would have known I was pregnant without the stick-test. Which I only took on a lark because I was a whole day late for my period. Imagine my surprise when it came back + ! Other than a barely late period, I had no idea that anything was up! Not to say that I didn’t eventually have symptoms…

Yes, yes, a missed period is one of the largest clues that you could be pregnant sure (as is the pregnancy test itself!); but a lot of us just don’t experience menstruation like clockwork either so it really depends on the individual. Implantation bleeding (when the fertilized egg attaches to your uterus) can look very much like a period, though, it’s what happened to me.

I would have written it off as a short, brownish, period if I didn’t already know I was pregnant. If you’re pregnant and experience spotting, don’t be scared, you’re likely fine.

Morning sickness, the biggest clichéd symptom of them all, is such a misnomer! Mornings my tushie! I’d always feel this indefinable (generally non-pukey) sensation in the late afternoon/early evening time, usually when I was at work. How fun. I’d sit there thumping on my chest to force a burp so I could stop feeling green at the gills.

Eventually, I just started drinking sodas (non-caffeinated) to help the burps along faster. If remedies like Ginger don’t help you, prepare to do some forced napping, it’s the only thing that helped me pass through it.

I’m not going to discuss constipation; you don’t want me to. You really don’t. Just make sure that you’re drinking looooots and loooooots of water, okay? Okay.

Heartburn sucks! I never ever had heartburn before I got pregnant, and boy was it a surprise! You can’t tell me that there isn’t a little Leah-Voodoo doll with needles sticking out of its poor little back/chest/throat. At night, I would wake up out of dead sleep with bile about to spill out onto my pillow. Ick! I went through sooooo many antacids. Sleeping with your upper body elevated does help, take all your husband’s pillows if you have to… If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t mind.

But as for a lot of the other symptoms, there was nothing to tell me of my impending babyhood. My breasts weren’t sore, I didn’t feel especially tired in any way, nor was I making extra trips to the little girls’ room. I wasn’t dizzy, tired, bloated, cranky, faint or experiencing food aversions; nor was I having mad cravings for garlic ice cream. Though (cliché alert) I did once have the compulsion to eat a giant pickle seconds after I’d eaten ice cream. Does that count?

Don’t worry if you think you aren’t experiencing ‘enough’ symptoms. You’ll catch up.

Am I Pregnant Quiz

October 5, 2013Leah LovePregnancyOnline Pregnancy Test, Pregnancy Test1 Comment

Answer Yes or No to each of these questions.

Is my Aunt ‘Flo’ late?
Have you got your period but it’s unusually light?
Having unusual discharge?
Feeling more tired than usual?
Been feeling ‘emotional’ lately?
Are your breasts feeling sensitive?
Bra getting a little tight?
Pants getting a little tight? Bloating?
Have you been feeling nauseous or dizzy?
Unexplained vomiting?
Avoiding certain smells/foods?
Having unusual cravings?
Having back pain? Maybe, headaches?
Do you have to pee more than usual?
Experiencing constipation?
Is your basal body temp running high?
Did the Pregnancy test read positive?

Even if you didn’t say ‘Yes’ to the majority of the answers pay attention to your body. Even one or two out-of-place symptoms could mean something. Be safe, if you suspect you could be pregnant, take a test and then call your doctor.

Ye Olde pregnancy test

September 27, 2013Leah LovePregnancyPregnancy, Pregnancy Indicator, Pregnancy TestComments Off

Modern pregnancy tests are amazingly convenient. Unbox the stick, pee on the stick, re-cap stick, wait for the stick to indicate
pregnancy. The entire process often takes no more than 5 minutes top to bottom!

I vaguely recall that the pregnancy tests of 10-20 years ago used to be rather inconvenient. Involving cups and egg timers. Ick.

If I’d have been born 1,000 BC, I’d have to pee on a sack of wheat and barley seed to find out if I were pregnant. Then wait to see if they sprouted or not. If no sprouts, no baby. But the rule was if the wheat sprouted I’d have a girl, and if the barley sprouted then it was a boy. Apparently they tested this theory in the early 60s and history was vindicated! At least about the sprouting, it had something to do with the woman’s excess estrogen.

Around the same era, the Greeks found it perfectly normal to place bulb of garlic or onion into your womanly area overnight (gag!). If your breath didn’t stink of onion the next morning, you were preggo! Don’t ask me, I don’t get it either.

The next earliest test test, though it was hardly a viable home option, was the ‘Rabbit’ test, developed in 1927. A woman’s urine was injected into a juvenile (female) rabbit, rat or mouse. The poor baby animal was then euthanized a few days later and its ovaries dissected. If ovulation was found to have been induced in the juvenile animals, the woman was pregnant.

People later moved onto African frogs, which are more humane because they, when injected with pregnant women’s pee, would just lay eggs so… no killing necessary.

The pregnancy test as we think of it was invented in the 1970’s as a two-hour long process. It called ‘Wampole’s two-hour pregnancy test.

The test kit consisted of; two test tubes, a plastic rack, a bottle of control solution, a bottle of hCG-antiserum and a bottle of cell suspension. You provide your pipettes and centrifuge. Ha! Just kidding, you couldn’t take a pregnancy test at home yet, you had to take your ‘sample’ to a laboratory or doctor’s office.

In ’78, we get the EPT (Early Pregnancy Test) test that takes us from waiting in waiting rooms to waiting in bathrooms.

As at home pregnancy tests moved into the ‘80s and beyond, wait times are reduced, accuracy is increased with the introduction of digital pregnancy tests. Ovulation kits are introduced into the mix. What, do you suppose, will they come out with in the future?