positive pregnancy test (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] I was beyond excited to get pregnant after my husband and I were married. I remember that agonizing two week wait after ovulation, but before the start of my period in which miraculous changes may or may not have been taking place inside my body. Was there a little zygote free-floating down my fallopian tubes? And if so, would it successfully burrow it's way into my uterine lining? Could I possibly wait to see if my period was late or would I buy one of the many early home pregnancy tests on the market? Early home pregnancy tests look for the smallest traceable amounts of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin hormone (cCG). Some pregnancy tests say that the earliest you can get accurate results is the day after a missed period. Several early home pregnancy tests claim you can get a positive result up to five days sooner--before you've even missed your period. The obvious benefit of early home pregnancy tests are that you will know much sooner if you are pregnant--MUCH being a relative term of course. For some, four or five days might not seem too long to wait--to others, myself included, each day feels like a century or two. There also some things about using early home pregnancy tests that aren't ideal. For instance, the earlier you test, the less accurate the results. You are much more likely to get a false negative than a false positive. So if you test five days before you expect your period and get a negative, will you wonder if you just tested too early? If so, you'll be spending more money to buy another test and you won't even have quieted your racing mind. Another thing that isn't great about early home pregnancy tests is that they can detect pregnancies that may not last. There are times when a fertilized might implant for a day or two and then the pregnancy might terminate naturally. A woman who hasn't taken a pregnancy test will assume she has gotten her period while a woman who has taken an early pregnancy test will know she has had a very early miscarriage. I know my doctor told me that he isn't a big fan of early testing for this reason--every day that goes by increases the chances that the pregnancy will be viable. I remember getting a positive pregnancy test with my second pregnancy at day 22 of my cycle, which probably meant I ovulated very early that month. I even took the test in the middle of the afternoon--I couldn't even wait until the following day to use first morning urine which is the most concentrated. Talk about impatient. So, while I well know the cons of testing too early, have I ever been able to follow that advice? No Ma'am! Did you test early or were you patient enough to wait until you were "late"?

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