What does it mean if my pregnancy test is positive?

A positive home pregnancy test means that you are pregnant.

Home pregnancy tests work by measuring HCG (human chorionic gonadotropic, the pregnancy hormone) in the urine. Unlike blood tests for HCG, which measure the actual amount of hormone, home pregnancy tests just register the presence or absence of HCG.

A positive result is quite accurate because the test will not register the presence of HCG unless it is actually there. If your test is positive, you are pregnant.

Keep in mind that a home test only measures the presence or absence of HCG. It cannot tell you whether a pregnancy is healthy or whether you have had a miscarriage. You can have a miscarriage and your pregnancy test will remain positive for days or even weeks. That’s because it will take that long for the HCG level to drop back under 25.

When there is a question about the health of a pregnancy, you will need to have a blood pregnancy test to measure the actual amount of HCG. In a healthy pregnancy, the amount of HCG will double approximately every 48 hours.