I could not believe that by the time I took my first ever pregnancy test that I would already be 5 weeks pregnant. Still to this day it’s a strange feeling when I reminisce about the day we took the pregnancy test. It was the beginning of our pregnancy journey, knowing that our baby was growing inside my womb.
This was me at 5 weeks pregnant. I didn’t know that day when we went on a nature trek that I would soon find out I was pregnant. Today’s post we wanted to share our experience of taking our pregnancy test and give any of our readers some tips and suggestions on the most common questions about the pregnancy test.
Our experience of taking the pregnancy test
It was a big step for us to go to our local pharmacy and purchase a pregnancy test. Although we had planned to have a baby, it did feel a little awkward and nerve-racking to do so. It felt like an ‘adult’ moment and something we experienced for the first time together.
At the time, we were living in Cuenca Ecuador. We went on our weekly grocery shopping at Supermaxi and walked across the road to the local pharmacy where we purchased our first pregnancy test. When we finally brought home our pregnancy test, I remember feeling a sense of anticipation of the ‘what ifs’. I was confident that I was pregnant, since it was days past my expected period date. But then again, the previous month I was convinced I was pregnant too and ended up being a disappointment and sad moment. It was an emotional day filled with many mixed emotions- mainly fear and disappointment that we weren’t pregnant and excitement that we might be. The feelings kept going back and forth and we were both ready to find out the results.
Although our pregnancy test was in complete Spanish, we managed to understand the main gist of how to take a pregnancy test. We decided to have a live reveal not only for ourselves to kept as milestone in our life and relationship, but to film the experience in order to share with loved ones back at home in Australia. We thought that this would be a great way to share our joy in the whole experience and it would be a great way for family and friends to feel part of this special moment even though we were miles apart.
The pregnancy test was simple to complete. I went into the bathroom after having lunch, took off the cap and peed of the stick. Not looking at the results, I quickly stuffed the pregnancy test back into the box. The pregnancy test takes about 2-3 minutes to show the results. Two pink lines if you are pregnant or one line if you are not. We decided to wait about 5 minutes just to make sure the pregnancy test had enough time to give us proper results.
As we sat there waiting, I remember taking a deep breath in and out. It literally felt like the longest 5 minutes of my life. When we finally revealed the results, there was clearly two pink lines starring back at us. Instantly, we became filled with so much joy and love. I never thought a stick with two pink lines could make me feel that way.
Common questions about the pregnancy test
1. When to take a pregnancy test
If you are trying to have a baby, the first clear sign of being pregnant is the confirmation from a pregnancy test. But when should you take a pregnancy test? We decided to take a pregnancy test when I was late for several days, 5 days to be exact. Since I had been keeping track of my period every month for the last 5 months, I knew how long to wait for my period. I have never been late by more than 2-3 days according to the period tracker app I use (as the app can be incorrect sometimes) and therefore assumed it could possibly mean I was pregnant.
My suggestion of when to take a pregnancy test is to do it a few days after your expected period date. I’ve read that sometimes you may get a false negative if you try to do a pregnancy test straight away and it’s best to wait a few days as the levels of hormones in your body may be too little to detect earlier on. I know it can be a little challenging because you are excited and filled with anticipation, but it’s better to feel sure of the test results.
2. Should I get confirmation from my health professional?
Once you complete a pregnancy test, it’s always a good idea to get confirmation from your doctor at your first appointment, which many recommend completing at 8 weeks. This will coincide with your first ultrasound which clearly will confirm there’s a little munchkin growing in your womb. If you’ve had difficulties falling pregnant or have had miscarriages in the past, it’s always important to seek medical confirmation straight away. Speak to your doctor over the phone to find out when to come in for a test as they will assist in determining the best time to complete the urine test to confirm your pregnancy.
3. Using a pregnancy calculator to find out your pregnancy due date
Once we completed the pregnancy test, I immediately downloaded on my phone a pregnancy app. The one I ended up using is a free app called Ovia Pregnancy. It had a lot of good reviews and was completely free to download and use. Not only will this app give you your expected date, but it will also give you advice, tips and information on your baby’s progress throughout the duration of your pregnancy.
There are also websites that offer just the pregnancy calculator too. I found it more convenient to find a pregnancy app that you can use throughout the whole pregnancy as oppose to just calculating your expected due date. That way my expected due date and pregnancy data is stored somewhere handy like when I need to go to the doctors or make a booking for an ultrasound. The standard question they always ask is ‘when is your due date?’ or ‘how far along are you in your pregnancy?’.
When you use a pregnancy calculator, it will ask you for your last period date. This is the first day of your last period. This is why it’s important to track your period prior and during the time you are trying to have a baby. Once you put that date in, it an calculate how far ahead you are in your pregnancy already and your expected due date.
For me, I was already 5 weeks, close to 6 weeks when we completed the pregnancy test. It is a little strange that the pregnancy calculator counts weeks before you are physically pregnant, but it is the only way to work out a reasonable date for your expected due date.
4. What now?
Getting a positive result on your pregnancy test feels like a huge accomplishment- YES! we made a baby! For us, this was the second month of trying and we were over the moon about our pregnancy test results. But it suddenly dawned on us within the first 10 minutes of finding out the results… what now?
I don’t think anyone ever tells you what comes next after taking a pregnancy test and it never really crossed our minds to be honest until we knew for sure that we were pregnant. For us, the natural
The next step is to start reading up online things to expect during the first few weeks of pregnancy and to make important decisions like the type of healthcare you want throughout your pregnancy as well as choosing the doctor or medical professional you want for your first appointment. Generally, mums to be will come in for an appointment at 8 weeks.