How do I calculate if I’m pregnant?
Think you might be pregnant but it’s too early to show on an at-home pregnancy test? Or maybe you want to know when’s the right time to take a pregnancy test to get an accurate result?
When you’re trying for a baby and want to know if you’ve conceived, the waiting and wondering can feel interminable.
While the only way to know for certain that you’re pregnant is with a positive pregnancy test, there are some ways to calculate that you might be pregnant.
What are the signs I should take a pregnancy test?
Early signs of pregnancy differ for every woman. You may feel instinctively that your body is changing. Or you may notice some common early pregnancy symptoms:
– Light spotting (implantation bleeding)
– Tender or sore breasts
– Nausea and possibly vomiting
– Mild cramps and abdominal pain
– Headaches
– Tiredness and fatigue
– Food cravings
– Frequent urge to pee
– Metallic taste in mouth
– Missed period
– A general feeling that something is ‘different’
Although not all women will experience these very early pregnancy symptoms, they can be an indicator that it’s time to take a pregnancy test.
I have irregular periods. How do I calculate if I’m pregnant?
Irregular menstrual cycles make it tricky to know for certain when you are ovulating and difficult to decide when you should take a pregnancy test.
Look for the common early signs of pregnancy above. And if you have been measuring your basal body temperature (BBT), a persistent rise in BBT for 18 days or longer after ovulation might indicate pregnancy.
When is a pregnancy test positive?
A pregnancy test is only positive after implantation, when the fertilised egg attaches to the lining of the uterus wall.
Over the counter urine tests measure the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone which is only present if you are pregnant. hCG levels start to rise straight after implantation.
Most at-home pregnancy tests return a positive result around the time of your first missed period, when hCG reaches detectable levels in the urine. If your periods are regular this is about 14-16 days after ovulation.
That said, healthcare professionals recommend waiting for up to 21 days after ovulation, or at least a week after your missed period, before taking a home pregnancy test. For some women it can take time for pregnancy hormone levels to be high enough for a urine test to detect, resulting in an inaccurate result if taken too early.
If you don’t want to wait until after you have missed your period, you should wait 7 to 14 days after you had sex to take a test. Just remember that you might get an inaccurate result if you take the test too soon.
How do online pregnancy confirmation calculators work?
Unsurprisingly, there’s also an online tool to calculate if you are pregnant before you use a pregnancy test kit.
Online pregnancy confirmation calculators promise to detect if you are pregnant using your menstrual cycle length, last menstrual period date and symptoms. Ultimately though, the only way to know for sure is by taking a pregnancy test.
