Could it be possible that the seemingly harmless belief that we NEED a ‘test’ to determine pregnancy could be the very first step on the modern day path of the paradigm that has relegated pregnancy to the same category as an illness? Afterall, we ‘test’ for pregnancy the same way we test for a bladder infection or kidney disease. We purchase that test from the same place we access drugs and supplies for dealing with a health crisis. With that in mind, It makes sense to me that reliance upon this outside testing could subconsciously contribute to an emotional association between pregnancy and illness in a woman’s psyche right from the beginning of pregnancy.
The thing I love most about this Indie Birth group is that there is a constant reminder that having a baby does not need to be viewed as a medical condition. That paradigm shift, expressed with such conviction, is exciting and engenders courage. Thank you for your work and the foundation you help women build to step away from fear.

My first pregnancy, I tested once and got a positive and knew that was it, never took another.
Second pregnancy, I was VERY interested in the birth world so I knew all about internet cheepie tests, but only took one, knew I was pregnancy and never took another.
Third pregnancy was a miscarriage where I had decided NOT to take any more tests… But when bleeding started the day my period was expected I was sad that I “wasn’t” pregnant but just went with it… after 10 days of bleeding I finally took a pregnancy test and saw it was faintly positive. My husband and I named our baby, and I decided to go back to NOT testing.
Fourth pregnancy (third baby) I never tested. I did track my temperatures but never tested, and it was a sweet special feeling to anticipate “this is the day I will know if I’m pregnant or not” by my cycle not coming… and even the first few weeks of pregnancy still savoring that slightly mysterious reality of early pregnancy.

Thank you for sharing your journey with us! I have enjoyed learning from you, and also finding myself doing some of the same “science experiments” on my own before hearing you talk about it.

What determines how early one would be able to get a positive test? While trying to conceive, I was addicted to pregnancy tests (which is something I hope to change in the future) but I had two different times where I had abnormal spotting and negative tests, which I now believe were possible very early miscarriages. But when I did finally get a positive test, I believe it was 14 days past ovulation. I had taken a test 12 days past ovulation which was negative, I did not take one 13 days past ovulation so unsure if that would have been positive or not, but 14 days past ovulation is late from my understanding to finally get a positive. Of course, it is possible I ovulated a day or two later than I think I did since my cycle isn’t always consistent.