Photo: iStockphoto
So you?ve peed on the stick of a home pregnancy test, and the line that comes up is so faint you have to squint to see it. What does it mean" Are you pregnant or not"
According to Yolanda Kirkham, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Women?s College Hospital and St. Joseph?s Health Centre in Toronto, testing too early could be one reason you get a faint positive pregnancy test. ?There’s that old saying, ?You can’t be a little bit pregnant??but you can, and that’s what happens when you have a faint line,? she explains. What the test is measuring is how much of the pregnancy hormone beta hCG is present in your urine. The amount of this hormone doubles every two to three days until it stabilizes between 13 and 16 weeks of pregnancy. In the very early days of a pregnancy, a test done later in the day may also produce a faint line because the hormone is more diluted by your fluid intake. And while modern tests can tell you if you?re pregnant as little as 10 days after fertilization?which is even before you miss a period, since a you ovulate 14 days before your period begins?Kirkham recommends waiting until seven to 10 days after a missed period to test, because many pregnancies don?t continue past the first several days. ?When I see these commercials where they say, ?Test and know as soon as you’re pregnant,? I actually think it’s too early. You may lose it in a few days and just be really upset. There’s no need to...