One thing common about IUI and your exams is that you have to wait for some days to get your results.
After an IUI procedure, you will be asked by your fertility doctor to go home. However, they would have explicitly advised you not to take a pregnancy test early and wait for certain days before testing for pregnancy. But di you know why?
There is actually a valid reason for your doctor asking you to wait for some days before taking a pregnancy test. In this article, we will discuss the significance of this waiting period and some methods you can use to test for pregnancy.
How Long Does It Take To Confirm Pregnancy After IUI?
Generally, after an insemination procedure, your fertility doctor will advise you to take a pregnancy test roughly 2 weeks (10–14 days) to confirm pregnancy. This is mainly to give the sperm enough time to fertilize the egg and for implantation to occur.
Below is a detailed reason why you should wait for two weeks before taking a pregnancy test.
Reasons Behind This Timeframe
First, you need to understand what happens in your body after insemination to clearly know why you should wait to take a pregnancy test. So, let’s look at it in detail here.
- During insemination, the washed and processed sperm will be injected into your uterus.
- The healthy sperm will quickly swim to the fallopian tubes and fertilize the mature egg waiting there.
- The fertilized egg will then travel to the uterus and implant into the uterine lining.
- After implantation, your body will realize the pregnancy and start to release the pregnancy hormones (hCG hormones) into the bloodstream to support the pregnancy.
When you take a pregnancy test, the test kit will measure your hCG levels to determine pregnancy. So, you need to give your body time to release enough hCG hormones to get accurate results during the test.
By the first week, fertilization and implantation would have been completed. Within the next 4 or 5 days, your body will have released enough hCG hormones to be identified by the pregnancy test.
So, stay calm during these two weeks and don’t rush into taking a pregnancy test. You will probably only get false results.
How To Confirm Pregnancy After IUI?
When it comes to taking a pregnancy test, there are two common ways to determine pregnancy. Both these tests are accurate for some degrees and can help you get the right results.
Pregnancy Urine Test
First is the urine pregnancy test. This test is very simple and can be done at home. You don’t need any special medical kit for this. You can easily get a urine pregnancy test kit from a medical store near you.
Taking this test is also not very difficuly. You only need to place a drop of your urine in the designated area in the kit. It will measure the hCG hormone levels in your urine and tell whether you are pregnant or not.
This test is mostly valid and can give you accurate results. However, sometimes, the test kit might have expired or might give false results. In that case, to avoid uncertainty, you can use another method to confirm your pregnancy.
Pregnancy Blood Test
A blood pregnancy test is another more advanced and accurate test to determine pregnancy. You can’t do this test at home and you need to visit your fertility doctor.
In this test, your fertility doctor will take your blood sample for analysis. Like the urine pregnancy test, this test will also measure the hCG hormone levels in your blood to determine pregnancy.
Factors Affecting Test Timing
Although the general waiting period to take a pregnancy test after IUI is two weeks, there are some factors that can influence this timeline. These factors can either give you accurate results much quicker or delay when you can get your pregnancy result.
Below are some of those factors.
Timing of embryo implantation
Your body will only start releasing hCG hormones after implantation. If the implantation happened early, you might get pregnany result even before two weeks. However, if the implantation was delayed, you might have to wait a few more days to get accurate results.
Hormone levels
The hCG levels in your body also determines when you can get accurate results from the pregnancy test. If your body is releasing the hormones slower than normal, then it might take some time to reach the level that the test kit can detect and confirm pregnancy.
Conclusion
It is understandable for you to be more eager to know your pregnancy test results as soon as possible. However, everything should be done at its own pace and you should not hurry things.
Stay calm, stay healthy, and follow all the measures your fertility doctor advised you to. Your doctor and their team will definitely make sure you walk home with your baby in your arms.
You can discuss with your doctor and know what symptoms women usually experience during pregnancy. You can also take a urine or blood pregnancy tests two weeks after the procedure to confirm pregnancy.
It is best to wait for two weeks after the procedure to test for pregnancy. However, in some cases, women can determine their pregnancy results as soon as 10 days after the insemination procedure.
After IUI, you might start experiencing pregnancy symptoms as early as one ot two weeks after the procedure. Sometimes, you might not experience any symptoms. Don’t panic and visit your doctor for a checkup.
Yes, you can test negative 14 days after IUI and still be pregnant. This might be due to any of the following issues.
- The pregnancy test kit is faulty
- You body has not released enough hCG hormones for the test kit to recognize
- The fertilization and implantation process was slow, so it takes time for your body to release enough hCG hormones.
