To test or not to test

Last time I went through IVF I choose not to take any home pregnancy tests but rather wait until I had the blood test at my clinic and got the official result. This time I have been thinking about testing earlier. The reasoning is that it would be nice to prepare myself a little, especially if the result were to be negative. The problem with home testing is that it can be difficult to figure out exactly when to test. If I look at this which shows the day to day of what should be happening with the embryo, it suggests you can start testing on day eleven already if not sooner as your levels of HCG the pregnancy hormone should be high enough by then.

However some clinics like mine get you to give yourself injections of the HCG hormone during the two weeks after transfer which could then cause you to have a positive test even if you aren't really pregnant! I read that it takes roughly one day for each 1000 IU amount of HCG hormone to leave your body. So since I had a 2500 IU injection on Monday then I wouldn't want to test before Friday to be totally sure. However I found another link that said it can take up to a week for a 2500 injection to leave your body! So getting a false positive may not be so unlikely.

And what if it's negative? Well it's possible it's still too early and you should wait and see what the blood test says to know for sure. Even if the test were to give a faint positive, then testing a few days later should show the line getting darker if the HCG level in your body is increasing which is a good sign. A very faint line could possibly indicate a chemical pregnancy. Despite all that I am still considering testing, but taking the result with a pinch of salt. I will try to wait until the blood test but it's starting to feel like time is passing at a snail's pace. On the other hand I am beginning to feel more nervous as the deadline gets closer. I just really hope that it works this time. I hate the thought of having to go through the whole IVF process again.