Missing my periods, how can I find out if I am pregnant?
1) You can buy a home test kit from the pharmacy and do it yourself with a urine specimen. With the test kits available today, you can diagnose pregnancy as early as a few days after missing your period. If your periods are irregular but you know when your ovulation period begins, an accurate result may be obtained 18 days after ovulation. The doctor will also use a similar kit to confirm your pregnancy. The test takes two minutes to perform and there is no need to use the morning urine sample.
2) The gynaecologist usually confirms pregnancy with a vaginal examination or an ultrasound scan if you visit him after five weeks from the last menses ( in a person with a 28-day cycle) or three weeks after conception. At that stage, a gestation sac can be seen in the uterus.
3) To see the fetus, the pregnancy has to be six weeks from the last menstrual period (LMP). The heartbeat can be seen clearly by seven weeks from the LMP. An ultrasound performed in the first trimester is more accurate than simply using the LMP to calculate the expected date of delivery.
I had an X-ray taken before I realized I was pregnant. Does it mean I have to abort the pregnancy?
Like medication, an X-ray performed before you become pregnant is not harmful. If an X-ray is taken after pregnancy is positive, advice to keep the pregnancy will best be given through consultation with the radiologist. This can be arranged by your gynaecologist when you speak to him about your problem. Generally, a single film, example, a chest X-ray, a dental film or a plain abdominal X-ray is not harmful. With the newer machines, there is less irradiation, and even a series of films is not harmful. Having said that, of course, nobody would order an X-ray during pregnancy unless absolutely necessary. If you really need the x-ray, the radiologist will shield the abdomen as much as possible.
It is quite natural to experience cramps in the lower abdomen during the first few weeks after you have missed your periods.
