Line Quality

neludelu · October 2016

Hey ladies! I see a lot of posts about the line on the test being faint or slow coming. Does the speed and darkness of the line indicate how far along you are? This is my second time around and I still don't think I understand this baby making business. For the record my line was very dark and came up really fast. :-)

PolarBear517 · October 2016

In short, no, but kind of. There are a lot of factors that can influence the amount of HCG in urine. And, even more accurate readings of HCG (blood draws) cannot date a pregnancy since there is a huge variability in the amount of HCG that pregnant women will have at any given DPO.

I will say, however, that in general the trend in early pregnancy should be darkening lines, especially if your first test was a squinter. *TW* The last time I was pregnant, I had a very faint line, turned a digi, figured I was pregnant and stopped after those 2 tests. 4 days later I got my period, so it turned out to be chemical. I have had some unexpected anxiety after that experience and have been peeing on sticks (like 2-3 a day) for a week straight after getting my BFP. I have had one or two flukes that seemed too light, and I double checked with a later urine sample or a second test. The dye in the tests may be variable in addition to the HCG in your urine.

I'm going to try to stop testing now, since I took my last one this morning! This is longer than my last pregnancy lasted and the wondfo lines have been about as dark as the control line this morning and yesterday so we will see if I can fight my urge to buy more tests. It IS satisfying to see those dark lines, evidence-based or not. But, I say this as someone who has done a buttload of googling on the subject over the last week (i.e. "at what HCG should your test line be as dark as your control line?" "Average HCG 15 DPO" etc.): I've decided it is more stress than its worth!

TL;DR: HCG should increase and yes test lines should get darker, but this is not an indication of how far along you are simply because of the huge variability in HCG production and presence in urine. The variability in urine and test dye may even produce one or two fluke lighter tests. Back away from the pee sticks if it stresses you out!

neludelu · October 2016

Wow. You're an expert! I'm putting my mind to ease and just secheduled an apt for tomorrow to get a dating ultrasound. I'm thinking in either 7 wks or 11.

lovesclimbing · October 2016

FWIW: there are pregnancy tests out there that also give a weeks estimate. The estimate comes from the amount of hcg, but it's pretty unreliable. So yea, theoretically a darker line means further along, but I wouldn't really trust that too much.

Waiting4Fred · October 2016

Mine were quite light at first (Hcg was in the 100s) and now that I'm 6w, they show up fast and furious. Almost all of the dye is taken right up front so the control line is super light.

Also, I will add that mine were always lighter with FMU (alarmingly so) at the beginning. They always got dark again by the end of the day. Weird!

Want a personalized experience?

Line Quality

Re: Line Quality

Choose Another Board

Search Boards