A Pregnancy Blood Test or the Home Variety

If you feel you may have become pregnant or indeed feeling or seeing the early signs of pregnancy, you will want to ascertain definitively whether you are pregnant or not. This will enable you to start your planning and seeking professional pre-natal care at the earliest opportunity. Either a pregnancy blood test or a home pregnancy kit will determine this for you.

To ascertain pregnancy, both types of test will look for the pregnancy hormone HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotpopin). The home pregnancy test will look for this in the urine whereas the pregnancy blood test will check for this in your blood. So, to determine your condition, either will provide the results you seek.

The pregnancy blood test is the preferred method of testing for pregnancy clinics and doctors. This is because, apart from ascertaining pregnancy or otherwise, far more data can be established from a blood serum test.

Benefits of a Pregnancy Blood Test

The pregnancy blood test falls into two categories; qualitative and quantitative. The former is just like the home pregnancy tests in that it will be looking for traces of HCG and will provide a yes or no answer.

The quantitative pregnancy blood test will measure the amount of HCG in the body. This test is not just taken once but at certain strategic times during early pregnancy. HCG levels are predictable at differing times of the pregnancy and following these tests, comparisons can be made to the test results which will help professionals assess a normal and healthy pregnancy or otherwise. This type of pregnancy blood test will normally also be requested by your doctor if problems with the pregnancy are being experienced.

Even if you have determined that you are pregnant by using a home pregnancy test, it is very important to see your doctor as early as possible to not only confirm the home test but to ensure, using blood pregnancy tests, that your pregnancy is healthy and safe.