Archive for September, 2008

If you are expecting to get pregnant, then you can get your pregnancy tested easily at your home using few home testing kits. Though you need to visit your doctor to get further advice, you can make use of such home kits to test your pregnancy for convenience and as well as for knowing before hand.

Home Pregnancy Tests Principle

The moment you conceive or get pregnant, there will be a lot of hormonal changes happening inside your body and such changes will get exhibited as few external symptoms. For example, on conception your body will start producing a hormone by name Human Chorionic Gonadotropin or HCG by your placenta and this could be made use for detecting your pregnancy well in time.

This hormone will be produced six days after your ovum got fertilized and after the embryo got itself attached to the inner walls of your uterus. As there will be a spurt in your HCG hormone levels during pregnancy, the same can be easily be detected from your urine sample and detection of this hormone using specific home kits can be taken for your pregnancy confirmation provided you test for it a day of two after missing your otherwise regular periods.

The Ease of Use

The convenient part of any home pregnancy tests is that they are easy to use, inexpensive, easy to procure and are relatively accurate provided you fulfil certain conditions. Most of the home pregnancy testing kits use the same method namely the use of test stick to read your urine sample. Once you keep the test stick in your urine sample, the stick will detect the presence of the specific hormone in it and display the results through various signs that can be interpreted using the chart provided.

For example, a plus sign can be read as a confirmation for your pregnancy and where as a negative sign is to be read as negation for your pregnancy. In order to get the best and correct results, you should scrupulously follow the instructions provided on the carton of these test kits and it will be always better for you to seek a doctor’s confirmation in this regard.

The Flip side of Home Pregnancy Tests

Though the home pregnancy test is convenient and useful, there may be some chance for you to get an incorrect result due to many reasons. For instance, if you are testing too early, then there may not be sufficient HCG hormone level in your urine leading to negative results despite your actually being pregnant.

Further, the test is recommended to be carried out only with your first urine in the morning and in the event of your carrying out the test in the middle of the day, your HCG concentration might get diluted due to excess intake of water and thus leading to a false test results. Similarly false pregnancy test results are also possible under the circumstances such as “chemical pregnancy”, which is nothing but the failure of your embryo to further develop after getting itself attached to the uterus and thus leading to secretion of HCG hormone.

There are also other reasons such as early abortion due to the inability of the embryo to get attached to the uterus and this will lead to death of the zygote or the embryo. Hence it is always advisable to get a confirmation from your doctor whenever you have tried a home pregnancy test so as to be foolproof in your pregnancy journey.

Pregnancy is a wonderful event in any woman’s life and it is sure to end with a sweet note of a yet another tender life in the world. However, as a pregnant mother, you are supposed to take care of your body and health so as to see through your pregnancy cycle without any untoward incidents and to deliver a health baby. When it comes to staying healthy when you are pregnant, there are many things on which you must focus your attention to and one among the health concerns is the diabetes or the popular gestational diabetes.

It is quite common that you may end up with diabetes as soon as you get yourself diagnosed for pregnancy and such diabetic condition is called as gestational diabetes, however this type of diabetes will cease to exist as soon as you deliver your baby. Pregnancy is one condition in women that greatly influences hormonal changes in the body and these hormonal changes affect effective utilization of insulin thus leading to temporary diabetic condition in you.

Gestational Diabetes

It has been observed that many women show up signs of gestational diabetes after the first quarter of their pregnancy cycle and in the event of your feeling frequent thirst and frequent urinating feeling coupled with fatigue during any pregnancy trimester then it is better you get yourself tested for presence of gestational diabetes so as to take corrective measures at the right time.

The Need for Consulting Your Physician

As a pregnant woman, you should always opt to consult your physician for al matters concerning your health and in case of diagnosing diabetes also you should take medical advice so as to tide over any possible crisis. Further, if your mother or any of your sisters have had similar problem, then it is a must that you should get yourself subjected to all tests that may identify diabetes in you, as the chances of you developing gestational diabetes is very high under such circumstances.

How to Manage Gestational Diabetes

Controlling the amount of glucose in the blood could easily control diabetes during any quarters of pregnancy, however any adverse levels of glucose and gestational diabetes can make your pregnancy prone to high risks. Hence, you should opt to eat health diets without fail so as to take care of two lives.

Besides taking a healthy diet, it is also highly advisable for you to take up good exercises regularly after consulting with your doctor. Further, you should never resort to any strenuous exercises and take up only those exercises that were recommended by your doctor to avoid any complications.