Am I pregnant?

[littlemommy18]

Ok here's my situation. I started the mini-pill about two weeks ago. I have been sexually active with dh since about 2 weeks after Owen was born (so about mid-July) I started spotting two days ago which happened with both of my previous pregnancies. so i called my OB and he said I should take a blood test. It came back negative, but my question is: If spotting before pregnancy is caused by the embryo attaching to your uterus and I just started spotting two days ago, would any pregnancy test be able to detect the hormone? I really need some help ASAP b/c I dont know if i should stop taking my pills or not?

[texaspeach]

if he did a quantitative (how much) test it should show up, though there would probably be a tiny amount of the pregnancy hormone. a qualitative test (yes/no) has a threshold just like a urine test does, so it might not show up if you're very early. Did your doc mention that the minipill can cause irregular bleeding/spotting? it's a common side effect especially of the mini pill.

[littlemommy18]

yes he did mention the spotting, but I guess since i had had unprotected sex before i got on the pill, my doc was just trying to make sure. do you know what would happen if i was pregnant and kept taking my pills? do you know how long after the embryo attaches it takes to show up on a HPT? thanks for your help!

[jdsmom]

If you think you are pg, you should probably stop taking the pills. I can't imagine that it would be good for the baby. A normal luteal phase is anywhere from 10-16 days - it can take this time to attach to the uterus. Once the egg is implanted, it releases hCG into your bloodstream and can be measured at 5 mIU/ml - the average at this point is 14 at 1 week gestation(so says www.craigmedical.com).

Everyone is different, but when I took a beta at 16 dpo my hCG was 97.

Good luck to you.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Usually no harm comes from taking bcp while pg. My sil got pg on them and continued them for like 3 months after. She finally decided to go get a test after she didnt get af when she should

If the spotting was just 2 days ago a blood test could very well miss a pg since it takes at least 4 days after implant for enough hcg to show up in enough amounts to register.

The hpt's we have now depending on how much hcg they detect can show a pg as early as 4-6 days after implant. Not all tests detect the same hcg amount. Some detect as low as 20-25mIU and some dont detect until there is 50-100mIU the lower they detect the earlier they will pick up a pg. Answer Early for example detects 25mIU so does wal-marts equate. And a few others.

Here is a Link to around 80 different brands and the amount of hcg they detect.

Something you should know is that some Dr. will only consider the blood test if the hcg is at 25mIU or above but that is not the case. If the hcg is 5 or over then there is hcg present and that means a pg. Anything under 5 can be normal without a pg. There is a hormone that sometimes gets picked up by the bw that is very similar to hcg and that is why 5 and below dosnt mean pg.