For some, it's a dream that has been cherished for years; for others, it's a huge shock. We are talking about the two lines on the pregnancy test – a positive pregnancy test.
When you hold a positive pregnancy test, it means that the test has detected an elevated level of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the urine. The body begins to produce hCG when the fertilized egg has implanted in the uterus, and when the hCG level surpasses the sensitivity threshold of the test, an additional line appears on the pregnancy test. If the line appears within the timeframe specified in the test's instructions (typically 5-10 minutes), it indicates that your pregnancy test is positive, and thus, you are pregnant. Remember that the test result is not valid if the pregnancy test turns positive after the specified time. You can learn more about why a pregnancy test might turn positive after the allotted time and what it could signify in our article here.
Early Positive Pregnancy Test
A regular pregnancy test turns positive when the pregnancy hormone hCG surpasses 25 mIU/ml. This level is typically reached on the day of expected menstruation. However, not everyone can wait that long, and in such cases, one can opt for an early pregnancy test. Early pregnancy tests have a lower threshold for the pregnancy hormone hCG, turning positive when hCG exceeds 10 mIU/ml. This means that one can already test for pregnancy 8 days after fertilization/6 days before expected menstruation.
When testing early and obtaining a positive early pregnancy test, it may be slightly less certain than testing on the day of expected menstruation. If you have received an early positive pregnancy test, you are pregnant, and two lines are just as much an indication of pregnancy with an early pregnancy test as with a regular one. However, approximately half of all very early pregnancies do not progress. This can lead to the scenario where one tests early, receives a positive early pregnancy test with great joy, only to still experience menstruation. The early biochemical pregnancy loss would probably not have been detected if not tested early.
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How Does a Positive Pregnancy Test Look?
A pregnancy test is considered positive when the test line appears with color within the time specified in the test's instructions. Note that a pregnancy test is still positive even if the test line is not as dark as the control line. There just needs to be color in the test line.
View image examples of positive pregnancy tests that we sell at gravidtid.dk here.
Positive Gravidtid early pregnancy test
Positive pregnancy test from Femometer
Can a Pregnancy Test Be False Positive?
Today, pregnancy tests are generally more than 99% accurate from the day of expected menstruation. This means that if a test line with color appears on the pregnancy test within the specified time, you are pregnant. So, the immediate answer to the question of whether a false positive pregnancy test is possible is no. However, some may experience the test as falsely positive if they still get their period shortly afterward. As mentioned before, in most cases, the explanation here would be a biochemical pregnancy loss. This is an abortion that occurs in weeks 3-5, a period where pregnancy can only be detected through a pregnancy test or a blood test, and a fetal presence would not yet be visible on an ultrasound.
In our article here, you can read more about what to do when the pregnancy test is positive.
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