It used to be that most people didn't know for sure they were pregnant but it is becoming a LOT more common. Back in the day (when my mom was pregnant with me), you couldn't go to the doctor to be checked until you had missed 3 cycles which would be about 2.5 months post conception.
My SIL would track her ovulation (oh, I'm ovulating, we need to go home right now ... at the dinner table) and would know that her period was due on Saturday and start taking EPT tests before that Saturday. I remember one time when she took the EPT on a Friday, found out she was pregnant, then miscarried on Saturday. If she hadn't taken the test, she would have had no idea she was pregnant (since I gather the period was fairly normal for her).
The new tests can track HCG in the urine at really low levels, they can advertise about "knowing before your period" and be accurate. I think they are now reasonably accurate a couple of days ahead of the date of the period (depending on the health of the conceptus etc.). Still have some false negatives but getting accurate positives (and the so-called false-positives are either because the pregnancy fails even earlier OR the person is on medications that read as HCG or they are on HCG to support the pregnancy).
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Date: 2010-12-08 04:39 pm (UTC)My SIL would track her ovulation (oh, I'm ovulating, we need to go home right now ... at the dinner table) and would know that her period was due on Saturday and start taking EPT tests before that Saturday. I remember one time when she took the EPT on a Friday, found out she was pregnant, then miscarried on Saturday. If she hadn't taken the test, she would have had no idea she was pregnant (since I gather the period was fairly normal for her).
The new tests can track HCG in the urine at really low levels, they can advertise about "knowing before your period" and be accurate. I think they are now reasonably accurate a couple of days ahead of the date of the period (depending on the health of the conceptus etc.). Still have some false negatives but getting accurate positives (and the so-called false-positives are either because the pregnancy fails even earlier OR the person is on medications that read as HCG or they are on HCG to support the pregnancy).