Taking A Pregnancy Test After Implantation
You might calculate your cycles, chart your body temperature, watch for symptoms of ovulation, and search endlessly for signs of implantation bleeding. There’s not much women don’t do when it comes to becoming pregnant. Once you make the decision to become a mother your life turns into a daily science experiment. You want to become pregnant right away and so you often forget to just relax and enjoy the fun that goes along with becoming pregnant. One of the things many women do when trying to become pregnant is check for something called implantation bleeding after ovulation as a potential sign of pregnancy.
Pregnancy Test After Implantation
Taking a pregnancy test after implantation is typically how most women find out they’re pregnant. However, if you take it too soon after implantation, you might not get the results you want for a few more days. The simple fact is that implantation is not something you can pinpoint accurately in most cases. While implantation bleeding does happen to some women, it doesn’t typically mean that a positive pregnancy test is likely to occur right away.
Implantation bleeding is something that happens when your fertilized egg implants itself into the wall of your uterus. When that happens, the wall begins to shed a bit and bleed. Some women might notice very light spotting or bleeding at this point, which is usually a week or so before they expect their period to arrive.
To better explain how implantation bleeding works, a simple explanation will suffice. Once you ovulate your body releases an egg. If you are sexually active at this time, your egg will meet a sperm and likely become fertilized. That fertilized egg will then make its way through your fallopian tubes and into your uterus. This is a process that generally takes as little as a few days to as much as a week. Once inside your uterus, your egg then implants in the wall causing you to bleed. This might be a week before your period, which could be cause for concern as you aren’t expecting any blood for some time.
However, taking a pregnancy test at this point will not always result in a positive test result. Your body does not begin to produce the pregnancy hormone hCG until your fertilized egg implants, which means that your levels will not become high enough to register on an at-home pregnancy test for a few additional days. However, many women do see positive results using early result pregnancy tests anywhere from 9 to 12 days after ovulation, which is only a few days post-implantation.
Can You Take A Pregnancy Test During Implantation?
In theory, yes, you can take a pregnancy test during implantation bleeding. You can take a home pregnancy test whenever you want. However, that doesn’t mean you’re going to get a positive pregnancy test result.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to know if your implantation bleeding is from implantation or it’s just a little early spotting indicating your period is on its way. There simply is not enough of the pregnancy hormone in your body during implantation bleeding to register on a pregnancy test. Your level of hCG must be above 5 mIU for you to be considered pregnant. Since most women have a level between 1 and 4 any given day, it depends on your body whether or not you’ll receive a positive result on your pregnancy test.
However, it’s safe to say you will not receive a positive result during bleeding. If you’re just too impatient to wait until the first day of your missed period to test, which is the day most tests are 99 percent accurate, you can wait a few days after you suspect implantation bleeding has occurred to increase your chances of taking a positive test.
Implantation Bleeding And A Negative Pregnancy Test
Once you notice light spotting or bleeding before your expected period, you might consider yourself pregnant. After all, you might not usually bleed before your period and you figure it can’t possibly mean anything else. If you notice bleeding early and consider it implantation bleeding, there are two main reasons that you might not receive a positive pregnancy test.
The first reason is you simply didn’t wait long enough to take a home pregnancy test after you noticed implantation bleeding. While some women are fortunate enough to see results before their missed period, not everyone is the same. You might need to wait longer to test. Typically, most pregnancy tests boast they are 99 percent effective. However, that accuracy level doesn’t take effect until the first day of your missed period. If your period hasn’t arrived and it’s still early, you might not have any reason to worry. You could still be pregnant. Your body just might not have enough of the pregnancy hormone in it to register on your pregnancy test. Wait a few days and try again. If you’re still receiving a negative result and your period is a week late, it’s time to call your doctor to discuss this issue. It could mean several other things.
The second most common reason for a negative pregnancy test result following what you consider implantation bleeding is a lack of pregnancy. Some women, unfortunately, might actually have been pregnant and experienced a very early and undetectable miscarriage immediately following implantation. Others were never pregnant, their bodies simply had a bit of blood left over in the uterus that hadn’t shed from the month before and it decides to do so at this point.
If you suspect you are pregnant and can’t get a positive result, simply call your doctor. He or she can perform a blood test that will tell you without question whether or not you are pregnant following implantation bleeding. Additionally, if there’s another issue at play, your doctor can also help you figure out exactly what that might be.