The two week
wait ( 2ww) is one of the most exciting as well as one of the most emotionally
draining phases of an IVF cycle. You are
eagerly waiting to know what has happened to your embryos – did they implant or
not ? The doctor’s done his best – now
it’s all upto you ! How well will your body
perform ? Most IVF clinics want you to
wait 14 days after the egg collection before doing a pregnancy test (a test
which detects the HCG hormone produced by the cells of the developing embryo
!) But you can do a pregnancy test much
earlier too. A blood test might tell you whether your embryo implanted or not
as early as 7 days after the embryo transfer.
Very sensitive home pregnancy tests ( which detect the HCG hormone in
urine ) are also available. They detect HCG even at very low levels – as little
as 25 mIU/ml. Such tests appear to be a boon for women who cannot wait to know
their result – those who cannot bear the suspense. But such tests are a bane as
well ! Sometimes , even if you get a positive pregnancy test at home , or if
you detect the HCG hormone in your blood earlier than 14 days past transfer,
when you go in for the definitive test (14 days after egg collection) you might
end up with a negative result. This can be heart-breaking , because all the
dreams you built because of a positive pregnancy test will be shattered. A positive pregnancy test which later become
negative can happen because of two reasons :
- Chemical pregnancy – your embryo tried to implant ,
but failed to successfully embed into the lining
- The HCG shot which you took for triggering ovulation
was still in your body and the pregnancy test detected this HCG , which is
why you got a false positive result !
Such false
positive tests or short-lived positive pregnancy tests can cause enormous
frustration !
You can also get
a false negative if you test too early. As a result of this, you might spend
the second half of your 2ww in tears, anger and disbelief – none of which will
help your emotional well-being. Of course you will feel happy when you get a
positive result 14 days after egg collection, but all the stress and negative
emotions you go through because of the first negative pregnancy test result can
make your 2ww very unpleasant.
This is why it
is wise to wait patiently for 14 days after egg collection before you can do a
pregnancy test.
Read
more at : http://blog.drmalpani.com/2011/01/testing-for-pregnancy-after-embryo.html
