I'm pregnant after a negative blood test

[Plummeting]

I just wanted to say that, because I've seen posters tell other women that they can't be pregnant if their blood test was negative. I usually have a 26-27 day cycle, but on Thursday I was at day 32 and hadn't started yet. I had to be at the military health clinic for other reasons that day, so I figured I'd just have them give me a pregnancy test, since I was there and thought it would be more accurate. A big snafu happened and they told me they wouldn't give me my results, since my doctor had already gone home, so I went and picked up a dollar store test then did that at home. It was negative. I got my blood test results the next day, which were also negative. I don't know what they use as their cut off, but it was a qualitative, not quantitative test. Well, today I was at day 34 and still hadn't started, but a few days ago I had started having some unusual symptoms I've only had when pregnant before (very, very light bleeding after sex, weird taste in my mouth - just minor things) so I figured I might as well test again, just to be sure. This test was positive. It's faint, but I took it in the afternoon and it's definitely there.

I dunno - just wanted to say that a blood test can show that you're not pregnant, even after you've missed your period. Everyone is an individual and all that stuff.

[dogmom327]

Congrats mama!

[Plummeting]

Thank you very much!

[Jaimee]

Congrats!! 

Most likely what happened was that you hCG levels were too low at the time for their cut off, which is also why you got a BFN on the first HPT you took.  An hCG quant test would have been more helpful to you b/c typically levels over 5 are considered pregnant.   But since there are some other things that can cause slightly elevated hCG levels, some may have higher cut offs- more like 10 or 20- and most dollar store tests require a level of 25.  So it is definitely within the realm of possibility that your levels were elevated, but low when you had your blood test and climbed high enough to pass 25 by the time you tested again.  If you had gotten the quant instead and they saw levels over 5 then they would have tested you again to see if they doubled in 48 hours, indicating pregnancy.  I wonder why they bother with qualitative?  Strange.  Anyway, iIt is a rare woman that fails blood tests and since you now have an HPT+ I am sure that a blood test would reveal the same result at this point.

[Lazurii]

Congrats!

I have a friend that has three children.  With each pregnancy she had to be three months along to show positive on a blood test, so it's totally possible.

[Plummeting]

I agree - it was just too early to show yet. I really didn't expect to get a negative if I was pregnant, because I was already a few days late and with dd2 I got a positive test 8 days after I conceived (and there's no possible way I conceived earlier than I thought). So I figured if I was pregnant, surely I'd get a positive. Just goes to show every pregnancy is different. I should've known, going by how different my first two were, but it didn't really cross my mind. Just in case, though, I'm waiting a few weeks before going in for another test at the clinic. I don't want to get 2 negatives there and have them think I'm crazy, and I don't know how high their cut off is. My friend told me her daughter's OB's cut off is 50! I do know the nurse at the clinic told me they didn't want to test until I hadn't had any menstrual bleeding in at least 45 days, so I bet their cut off is pretty high.

[Jaimee]

Ah, that makes complete sense then!