Evaluating urine Beta increases

[JustLooking_30]

Hi! very newly pregnant and this is my first post in this section Because my temps fell and stayed low after I got by BFP at 10 DPO, I got on progesterone suppositories as a precaution.

I've been watching my Beta levels like a hawk though, by urine tests (not the best way to do it, but good enough for now). If they don't increase appropriately I will go off progesterone- no point in trying to circumvent mother nature.

So far everything looks like it is doubling every 48 hours at least- can you guys take a look and give your opinions?

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/z...x/P1000015.jpg

Thanks!

[~Demeter~]

I was under the impression that a pregnancy test can't tell you anything more than you are pregnant. The only way to truly test your beta levels is through blood tests.

[JustLooking_30]

The urine tests are crude as hell, but they are essentially colorimetric. The more HCG you have, the darker the line. They cannot begin to give you a number, but you could evaluate whether Day 13's line looks MUCH darker than day 11s or whether Day 14's line looks darker than day 12's.

I think I can use them to evaluate whether beta is increasing until the test line becomes as dark as the control.

I'm doing this because a blood test every 2 days seems like overkill. Also, I'm supposed to see the OB in 2 weeks, and I don't know if I can get insurance cover to do a blood test before.

[~Demeter~]

Not necessarily. Dye lots and other variables come into play with pee sticks. I mean sure, yeah based on principle alone... the more hcg you have the darker your line will be but let's say even with FMU your pee is really dilute one morning... the line will be fainter than your other lines that weren't as dilute. It is a very crude science and one that many discourage against here because it causes unnecessary worry... you'll hit what seems like a plateau where your lines won't get darker every day, but every 2-3 days... most likely.

I've had 6 pregnancies, I've never had a beta test in any of them ever. Is there a reason you feel you need to keep track of your hcg levels?