POSITIVELY PREGNANT!

IN THE BEGINNING you may be so dazed that you find it difficult to conceptualise what you are feeling – because becoming a parent is as much an experience of the mind as of the body. It is also the most exciting, challenging, rewarding yet complex development possible within a human being.

A blood test done by a doctor for the hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) around six days after fertilisation can establish immediately if you are indeed pregnant. The earlier you know, the better, so that you can take care of yourself and your unborn baby as soon as possible during the critical first 12 weeks, when the developing foetus is most vulnerable.

Have a written list of your questions with you when you have an appointment with your medical adviser.

SO MANY TESTS

Your healthcare practitioner will take a blood specimen and ask for