Nowadays, women don’t need to wait for pregnancy signs to find out about a potential pregnancy, since tests have been invented and they have an accuracy of over 99%. There are basically two types of tests, categorized by the samples they use: urine tests and blood ones. Women prefer the first type generally, and that’s because it has multiple advantages, one of the most important being the possibility that it offers: finding out if they’re pregnant or not in the privacy of their own home, at a lower price and with an excellent accuracy.

All pregnancy tests are working by the same principle: they try to detect the presence and levels of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in a woman’s body(which only appears if she is pregnant) – and it’s produced by placenta at least after 6 days after ovulation. So, as there is no hCG in a woman’s body before this moment, it’s useless to take a test because it will give a negative result even if pregnant.

Things are pretty simple, basically: the first day after the moment of conception that you could be getting an accurate result is the 7th day; however, doctors recommend taking a test at least 2 weeks after that moment. Most of the tests’ instructions, though, suggest that the best moment for this is the day you have missed your period.

Although they have many things in common, there are also certain features that make the difference amongst pregnancy tests, such as: the accuracy level, the easiness in use and interpretation, the results(the faster, the better), and so on. The advantage of home tests is that they’re taken in your intimacy, but the disadvantage is that they’re taken alone most of the time; however, you don’t actually need the help of a specialist, since these tests are practically designed for the need of average people, so the instruction set should be enough help. The process is very easy: after removing the cap, just hold the test’s stick under your urine stream for 5 seconds and then wait a short while before reading the result; one line means you’re not pregnant and two lines mean that you are. To avoid any confusion that could sometimes appear, you could go for a digital pregnancy test that literally spells out the result for you “Pregnant” or “Not Pregnant”.

Things have evolved, so nowadays in order to find out if you’re pregnant or not all you have to do is take a test. Most women appeal to home tests due to their high accuracy level(98-99%) combined with the fast result(2-3 minutes) and the intimacy that they provide.