Why is Morning Urine Best for a Pregnancy Test?

Why is morning urine best for a pregnancy test?

Because if you don't wait to hold it in to do the pregnancy test, you have to wait a couple more days for that positive test result.

I don't get it, what does that mean?

The pregnancy hormone levels are highest in the urine when it is concentrated overnight.

So when you use first of the morning urine, there is more hormone to detect.

After you've had something to drink, ideally water, the next urine sample is more diluted. The hormones are still there, but not as concentrated.

I don't get why concentration is so important.

Standard pregnancy tests only turn positive at a certain concentration of the pregnancy hormone, while the early tests detect half that concentration.

So using more concentrated urine means the pregnancy test is more accurate.

No, it just registers positive sooner than if you do the test over your lunch break to find out why you've been throwing up since breakfast.

That also means an early pregnancy test won't show up positive early on if I don't test early in the morning.

Or an early pregnancy test will catch a pregnancy standard ones miss because you're well hydrated.

Yet they say you can test at any time.

The pregnancy tests are looking for that hormone, and the hormone levels go up fifty percent to a hundred percent every 48 hours.

When does it no longer matter what time of day you test?

By week two after your missed period, the only way for a pregnancy test to not pick up the hormone concentration is if you drop it in the toilet diluting the reading or sprinkling on it for fear of getting some pee on your hand.

If I'm pregnant, I'll have to get over that fear rather quickly.

You can improve the accuracy of the results by peeing in a cup and then soaking the test strip in that pee. Then you don't get a false negative because it wasn't exposed long enough to test positive.

I've been throwing up a lot. That makes my urine concentrated.

It won't make the pregnancy hormones concentrated more for the sake of the test than first of the morning urine, though it means you need more water anyway.

Or a better diagnosis.

If you have trouble peeing on a test, you can get a pregnancy blood test. Then you'll know if that stomach bug will pass in a couple days or last a couple months.

I don't want to be throwing up for months. Do you throw up for months when pregnant?

Most women only have nausea and vomiting for a few weeks, but if it lasts months or is bad enough to land you in the hospital, you're more likely to have a girl.

I'm not even sure I'm having a baby.

You can still go to the doctor, and if they do a pregnancy test and aren't sure, a sonogram can tell you for certain.

And the only thing I can be certain for past that point is the bills that are coming up.