When can you take a pregnancy test and get an accurate result?

Patience is a virtue, or so they say. But waiting for the time that you are able to take a pregnancy test is extremely trying when you can't wait to conceive a baby! The best time to take a pregnancy test is after you have already missed a period, and have reason to believe that you might actually be pregnant. Because the levels of hCG, the hormone that is used by home pregnancy tests to give you either a positive or a negative result, rise consistently from the time a fertilized egg first starts implanting itself into the uterus, taking an early pregnancy test is not very reliable.

No two women are the same. We might ovulate at roughly the same time during our cycles, but the exact timing still varies. It is the same with implantation, and the length of the luteal phase of our menstrual cycles. Most women experience implantation at around 10 weeks after their ovulation, but this is no reason to think you can take a pregnancy test after 10 days, and expect an accurate result. Peeing on a stick does no harm, in that there are no medical risks involved, but the odds of getting a false negative if you do a pregnancy test before your menstruation was due are extremely high.

There are very sensitive pregnancy tests on the market today, that claim to be able to provide accurate results within seven days after ovulation. These tests are able to detect even the tiniest amounts of hCG in your urine. If you are very curious, give them a try! But good things also come to those of us who wait, as they say. If you take a pregnancy test on the day after your period was expected, you are almost certainly going to have an accurate result.