IS IT TRUE?!...

[decorativeD2Bmum]

i have heard this a ciuple of times and im not sure if it is correct or not or maybe i misunderstood....

when you are pregnant a test only shows positive for a certain period of time ie first 12 weeks then after that it shows negative as hormones have reached a certain level? so im guess what im asking which is really blonde throughout the whole 9 months of pregnancy does a test show positive?

i have heard somthing along these lines maybe i have got it muddled...can someone please clarify?

thanks x

[lulumama]

the hormone a pregnancy test tests for is HCG..which is produced in vast quantities in early pregnancy...it is vital to sustain the foetus, i think until the placenta and other hormones take over ....i think it is produced for a while..then other hormones kick in..whether HCG remains , i donlt actually know...

will await the answer

[munz]

well I did a test at 19 weeks - don't ask me why total stupiddity, anyhow was a pos so still works then

[julezboo]

Lol Ive always wondered this too, I was half tempted to go out and get a test just to see! Keep pestering DP for one of the digital ones

[Kidstrak]

a friend who was in a car accident 3yrs ago was expecting a baby but the ambulance crew who attended the scene never knew until they got her to hospital and as she was unconcious and pumping drugs into her they done a blood test to check for a pregnancy, doctors then knew they were treating a pregnant woman, therefor a blood test obviously shows up so i presume a normal stick would do the same as pregnancy hormones as still there all throughout a pregnancy

[lulumama]

HCG might not be there all the way through... i thought it was taken over by progesterone etc.... and the blood tests test for other things ? maybe i am wrong?

maybe Mears or another midwife can give us a definitive answer

[iPodForLifeNotJustForChristmas]

I had positive test at 24 weeks with DS! first I knew of him!!

[lulumama]

really iPOD!! no hint before then ?

goodness me!

[iPodForLifeNotJustForChristmas]

yeah - thought I might be 12 in retrospect when I tested, and scan showed two bumps so I thought twins!!! and the dating was 26wks by the time I had that scan.

In my defence I had bleeding in the early months, then missed 2 periods. I had just started my new job in a hospital and thought I had got a dodgy stomach bug from their so didn't really pick up the early signs!!!

BIG SHOCK!! told my boss in the November than I would need mat leave in the Feb!!! cocked up my career a bit but all back ontrack now! Minus DS's dad though - he couldn't adjust to being a growd-up so we went our seperate ways. NOt that I had much choice at that point.

[lulumama]

wow ! thread yesterday re people not knowing they are pregnant...did you not sense movements? i think if you are not expecting the kicks , you out it down to something else !

[LieselVonGiftwrapp]

HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW????? I just dont get it.

[olittletownofberolina]

IIRC, hCG increases exponentially until about 12 or 14 weeks, then it does drop off sharply, but usually not below the level at which a sensitive test would give a positive.

[iPodForLifeNotJustForChristmas]

well, I didn't know - hadn't planned to be pregnant and didn't feel any movemnets till a couple of weks after the scan. I'm very well built and had plenty of other likely causes of tiredness and sickness going on at the same time.