Clearly Positive, but is this a False Positive?

At 5:00 p.m., my husband arrived home early to be present while I took the second pregnancy test.

The second Clearblue pregnancy test, which came from the same box said "digital" on the package. So unlike the first test, it was digital, with a screen to show the result (pregnant or not pregnant) and the estimated number of weeks pregnant that the person is if they are pregnant.

Shortly after setting down the test to wait for the result, it displayed the word "pregnant."

Then an hourglass appeared.

We then waited longer and it revealed an estimate of 1-2 weeks pregnant.

Clearblue in their literature indicates that they estimate the number of weeks pregnant from conception, not the start of the cycle like a doctor would. So, my actual number of weeks pregnant would be 4-5.

However, having wanted to become pregnant for so long, having had it not happen over and over again, never having seen a positive pregnancy test before, and having just embarked on this IVF journey, we, especially I, were reluctant to believe this result. I emailed the result to my nurse coordinator and called the after hours number for nurse coordinators at the Victoria Fertility Centre to ask what I should do next.

My nurse called me back shortly thereafter and told me that it sounded like I was pregnant, but she'd have to confirm this with a hCG blood test. She said that she would email a lab requisition to me in the morning and that I would have to go to a Life Labs location to have a blood test done to indicate whether or not I was indeed pregnant. She also told me to immediately stop taking Estrace.

We made calls to our immediate family to tell them our uncertain news. There was a lot of excitement and of course surprise. Everyone almost couldn't believe the news, given that we had just finally committed to undergoing IVF because we had been unable to conceive for so many years and we had in fact not yet undergone IVF.

Life is truly a mystery. Perhaps the sonohysterogram which is supposed to help with implantation kicked my body into gear, maybe it was the synthetic estrogen, maybe it was all those business trips my husband was taking this spring (absence does make the heart grow fonder), or maybe my body just really, really didn't want multiple daily hormonal injections.

But the possibility that terrified us the most and made us unable to feel completely happy with the test result was what if it was a false positive. Only a blood test will give us the further certainty that we need.

The two tests together. I would definitely go for digital only next time, despite the increased cost. It was far clearer to read.

We've never held on positive pregnancy test before. Now we have two. But you can tell from my somewhat guarded expression that I want further confirmation that I'm actually pregnant. My husband is just excited.