How Early Can You Get A Positive Pregnancy Test?

How early can you find out if you’re pregnant? Can a doctor tell sooner than you can at home?

pregnancy test next to a flower with text overlay that says how soon can you tell if you're pregnant and the different tests and when they show pregnancy

While home pregnancy tests are generally very accurate, a blood test ordered by your doctor can show a pregnancy much sooner. That’s because pregnancy tests look for the pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG. Your body starts to make HCG when the egg is fertilized and implants in the wall of the uterus.

There are a few different ways to find out if you’re pregnant, and each of them has a different time period for when it can detect pregnancy. If you’re testing before a missed period, you may not have any pregnancy symptoms yet. Luckily, you won’t have to wait around to see if you’ll be blessed with the terrible morning sickness or sore breasts. There are blood tests and urine tests readily available!

How soon can you find out if you are pregnant?

Your body does not begin to make HCG until around 6-8 days after ovulation and fertilization.

If you know when you ovulated, you will be able to test sooner. You may see a positive result as early as 10-14 days after ovulation on a home pregnancy test, and 1 week after ovulation with a blood test.

Types of pregnancy tests

Home pregnancy tests

Home tests are very accurate. Some being more sensitive than others, like the First Response Early Response tests. Home pregnancy tests look for HCG in the urine. You can either pee into a cup and dip the test, or put the end of the test in the urine stream. Once it’s touched urine, you place it on a flat surface, and wait a few minutes to see if it turns positive.

Some pregnancy tests that can tell you if you’re pregnant a few days before your missed period. Some are more accurate if you to wait until you are a day late for your menstrual cycle. Most home pregnancy tests won’t read positive until 13-15 days after ovulation.

A home pregnancy test kit usually comes with a few tests. If you have negative tests on the first day, you should repeat the test in a few days. It is possible that the levels of HCG were low on the first test but are higher in a few days, leaving you with a false negative.

A positive urine pregnancy test will show two lines or a ‘+’ sign. Be sure to read what a positive test looks like for the brand you’ve chosen as they are different brand to brand.

If it is a negative test, you will just see the control line. Pregnant tests that do not have a control line will give an inaccurate result and should be discarded.

Many home test kits will tell you to use your first morning urine. This is because the levels of HCG will be higher in the morning urine, so you are more likely to get a early positive test.

Be careful, you could get a false negative result, especially if you test before a missed period. If you start showing early signs of pregnancy, try again with a new test strip or call the doctor’s office.

Urine pregnancy tests at the doctor’s office

The urine pregnancy tests at the doctor’s office are very similar to home tests. Like with home tests, the healthcare provider will collect a urine sample and dip a test strip into it. After waiting a certain amount of time, they will see if there are 1 or 2 lines present.

In rare cases, you will get a false positive or a false negative. Many doctors and midwives will also send for a HCG blood test to confirm the pregnancy as it is most accurate.

Pregnancy blood test

Ordered by a healthcare professional, such as an OB/GYN or midwife, a blood pregnancy test is done at a lab. These tests are also looking for the levels of HCG, but they are looking in the blood.

With a quantitative HCG test, your provider will get an accurate reading with the exact amount of HCG. A quantitative blood test is the most accurate way to get pregnancy test results. Your care team might suggest repeating the test in a few days to make sure the levels are still trending upwards which can be indicative of a healthy pregnancy.

HCG levels can be detected in the blood sooner than they can be detected in the urine. Blood tests are much more sensitive than urine tests and may detect a pregnancy as soon as a week after ovulation. That being said, many providers will not order a blood test until you have missed period. They may order other hormone levels, like progesterone, at the same time.

Next steps after a positive pregnancy test

After you get a positive pregnancy test you should call your health care provider and may an appointment. If you are not already, you should start taking a prenatal vitamin with folic acid. Research has found that taking folic acid supplements lowers the rate of neural tube defects and other health conditions of the fetus.

Your doctor or midwife will also schedule your first prenatal care visit. They’ll do a physical exam, a pelvic exam, and get your health history. They will want to know your baseline health status and any medical conditions so they can monitor if another health problem arises during pregnancy such as high blood pressure. After reviewing your health history, your provider will discuss your personal health history.

You may also schedule an ultrasound to make sure the pregnancy is located in the uterus and not the fallopian tube. A pregnancy in the fallopian tube is called an ectopic pregnancy and poses great danger to both the pregnant woman and the fetus. This ultrasound is sometimes done around the 8 week mark.

Later in the pregnancy, your doctor or midwife may recommend another ultrasound to look for birth defects and your baby’s anatomy, but the first ultrasound is usually just done to check the due date and location of the pregnancy.

Due date

Your doctor or midwife will also help you calculate your due date. Your due date is usually calculated based off of the first day of your last period. In some cases, it can be based off of an initial ultrasound done in the first trimester, usually around 8 weeks or so.