 Today, I want to talk about pregnancy tests. How do they work? When should you take them? And when is the right time to go to the doctor's office? First, let's begin with the miracle of life. Ovulation, a.k.a. the fertile time, happens around the 14th day of a woman's cycle. And this is when the single sperm cell who has completed its mission and made its way to the fallopian tubes can fertilize the single egg. Do you guys remember that song by the Spice Girls? When to become one? I need some love. Anyways, that's kind of what happens here. These two single cells combine to make two cells, then they multiply to four, then six, then 12. And the next thing you know, you've got yourself a regular ol' embryo growing. Now, at this point, the embryo attaches itself to the uterus wall and starts to secrete a special pregnancy hormone called HCG. HCG sends signals to the brain not to produce its usual end-of-cycle hormones that cause the shedding of the uterus, a.k.a. a period from happening. And not only does the HCG save the lining, but it also beeps it up and it's responsible for the creation of the placenta. Placenta, such a good word, right? Anyways, important to note, this whole process takes about a week, so HCG isn't really present until 20-plus days into your cycle. All right, now it's time to draw a super terrible pregnancy test illustration. Now, my test has two control windows and the absorbent P-strip at the bottom, though it looks like a brownstone building. I don't really know. A good test, no matter how bad it's drawn, must have two objectives. One, the test itself has to test its damn cell. It has to work. And secondly, it has to answer the question of the experiment, which is why there are two windows in every good pregnancy test. So, when you pee on the stick, the first thing this test does is test itself to see if it works, which is why the dye in the furthest window has to be activated to show urine has passed through the full testing area. Now, secondly, to prove if there is a bun in the oven, the test is looking for, you guessed it, HCG, bitches, by strategically placing an antibody that is naturally attracted to HCG along a controlled, invisible area. The dye in the first area will only activate if enough HCG was collected along this strip that usually makes that second line. Sometimes the line is dark because there's a lot of HCG. Sometimes it's light. It doesn't really matter. Usually a faint line or a bold line. There is some HCG in your urine and it is time to go to the doctor's office. Now, this test is pretty accurate and very inexpensive to make, which is why you don't have to spend like big bucks on the test. You can even get one at the 99 cents store, but you should always buy two at least and here is why. If you missed your period and your test comes back negative, there's a few questions you should ask yourself next. One, how soon after your missed period did you take this test? If it was just like a day or two, sometimes sufficient amounts of HCG has not been secreted yet. HCG doubles in the body every other day after your missed period. So usually take the test, wait a day or a couple of days and then retake the test again. Also, pee is still water-based. So if you drink hella amounts of water, you dilute the sample, which is why the best time to test is first thing in the morning when your mellow is very, very yellow. Now, if your test came back positive, don't worry about that second test. Book yourself a doctor's appointment instead. They will give you a second form of confirmation, sometimes blood, sometimes ultrasound, plus even if you've got a false negative test, this still means you have HCG somewhere in the body, which can point to other health complications. So you want to go and get that checked out. And this, my friends, has been an episode of How That Shit Works pregnancy tests. What would you guys like to see next? I am officially complete. I have my associate in sex education and I am a certified clinical sexologist. And that means I have a great base now to start actually counseling and helping people. And so I thought, what better way to really start this venture with you guys and to do it online, to make it hella affordable. Go in the description box below. There'll be instructions on how you guys can order sessions with me. And you can buy sessions per minute.