# Has anyone ever heard of such a thing??? My friend is freaking out!!!



## The Lucky One (Oct 31, 2002)

OK, I'll try to make this short.

My friend has a 3 month old dd and a 25 month old dd. She found out she was pg with #2 on her 30th b-day.

Wednesday was her 31st b-day and just for kicks she took a pg test fully expecting it to be negative. She and her dh are Catholic, although they have faithfully been using condoms w/spermacide every time and none of them have broken or slipped off.

So she takes the test and it looks totally negative just as expected. We trash it. About an hour later while throwing something else away, I look at the test and think I see a faint line. We take it apart for a better look and there is definately a faint pink line. (This was a First Response and IME I have never ever ever had a second line without being pg with that particular brand).

She freaks out and calls her dr's office (she is friends with the nurse) and they order a stat beta hcg. They call her later in the day and tell her the test is negative, but don't give her the actual value.

She dismisses the idea almost totally, but decides that she will re-test on Friday (this morning) with first morning urine just to be sure.

She tests this morning with her only remaining test and NO lines come up. Deciding the test must have been defective or that she got too much or too little pee, she threw it away.

Well, she just called me and said she took it out of the trash for one last look and there are now TWO pink lines.

What the heck?

Firstly, is it possible to get pg when using condoms if they didn't in any way break or come off?

Secondly, if she had enough hcg in her system on Wed to trigger the test line on the pg test, then why was her beta negative?

And thirdly, if she isn't pg, what would make the test line on the pg test from today be faintly (but easily visible) positive?

My friend is confused and TERRIFIED at the thought of another baby so soon. But most of all, she just wants resolution to all of this. I'm as confused as she is. Can anyone think of any explanation for what is going on?


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## calicokatt (Mar 14, 2005)

A negative is only good for something like 10 minutes. She is NOT likely to be pg. EVERY ONE OF THE NEGATIVES I'VE GOTTEN WERE POSITIVE A HALF HOUR LATER.


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## my2girlsmama (Oct 21, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *The Lucky One*
Firstly, is it possible to get pg when using condoms if they didn't in any way break or come off?

Yes. I'm sure sprem can leak out at some point and if highly fertile at that time..anythign is possible.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *The Lucky One*
Secondly, if she had enough hcg in her system on Wed to trigger the test line on the pg test, then why was her beta negative?

Not sure on that one. You need enough HCG to show up so..............

Quote:


Originally Posted by *The Lucky One*
And thirdly, if she isn't pg, what would make the test line on the pg test from today be faintly (but easily visible) positive?

They say to NOT check the test after allotted times as they can turn to different results due to chemical in them?


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## BeeandOwlsMum (Jul 11, 2002)

heh heh - pregnancy test guru here.

DO NOT under any circumstances read the test after the alotted time. You CAN get something called an evaporation line, which will make the test look positive -but will not actually be anything other than a deposit of the dye used for the test.

A negative beta is anything under 5 I think...which would not be high enough to register on an HPT anyway - since even FRER need at least 20miu of hcg.

Now that being said...it is possible - OCCASIONALLY - that the HCG just takes a while to render the test positive. In which case, she should wait a week and test again. In all my time ttc - this has only happened a handful of times.

It is also possible that she had a chemical pregnancy (I hate that term...) Something that cause the HPT to be faintly positive - but is not a viable pregnancy.

If she really wants to be sure she should go in for a quantitative beta (not qualitative- which just tells you yes or no.) and make sure she gets the level of hcg.

good luck! HPTs are frustrating under the best circumstances.


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## The Lucky One (Oct 31, 2002)

She had a quantitative beta on Wednesday. We specifically asked for such (we're both nurses). I wasn't there when the dr's office called her back, but the nurse simply told her that the result was negative. If I had been there I would have reminded my friend to ask for the actual *number* , but we both (perhaps wrongly) assumed that since the nurse said it was negative that the result was <2. Of course, now we're both wondering what the actual number was.

About the FRER, with both of my pg's I had beta's within hours of getting a faint positive (both times at 9dpo), and my levels were 10 and 11 respectively, so IME FRER can pick up hcg at very very low levels.

Adina, honey, how are you doing? 17 weeks!!! Wow, time is flying! April will be here before we know it!!!!


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## shannon0218 (Oct 10, 2003)

Ok, well my last pregnancy I got a very faint positive on an FRER and went in for a beta that afternoon, my beta came back at a 4. With Molly's preg I had a positive on an FRER at a beta of 9.

That said, there is apparently a current issue with false positives on FRER, go to peeonastick.com and she had something up a few months ago regarding it. I had one but it came up positive in the minute and then disapeared before the 10 minutes was up.


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## shannon0218 (Oct 10, 2003)

Apparently they call it negative anything under 5, the last one I went in to the fertility clinic and the nurse told me it was negative at 4....I said well, can we assume it may just be an early positive, since 5 is pregnant??? (I hated that nurse)


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## boysrus (Dec 2, 2001)

I have looked at pg tests after the time, and have seen positive lines.
If she has a three month old and has been using protection, I would guess that is what it is


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## broodymama (May 3, 2004)

Is she going to test again in a few days? Saturday morning my negative HPT looked positive when I looked at it again later in the day. Then BFPs on Sunday morning and Monday morning.


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## The Lucky One (Oct 31, 2002)

Yeah, she went to the store a little bit ago and plans on re-testing (yet again!) in the AM.

Just from my own personal experience, I've never had a FRER ever have a second line unless I was pg.

My friend couldn't bf because of breast surgery and she has had 2 periods since giving birth, so I assume she is fertile.

My bet is that she isn't pg, but who knows? I'll update this thread tomorrow after I've talked to her.

Thanks everyone, and congrats on your pg, LadyBug!


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## tayndrewsmama (May 25, 2004)

I think it's probably just a neg too. I have seen the same thing in the past and so has a friend of mine. But, just to be sure she might want to take another one and not throw it in the trash.







Who knows, maybe there's something in there that's setting it off a little.


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## mamangazelle (Apr 25, 2003)

I had a false positive with a first response test when I looked at it an hour after I had taken it. Your friend is very unelikely to be pregnant.

HTH


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## pilesoflaundry (Dec 9, 2003)

I got pregnant using a condom with my youngest (well we are 99% sure I did, unless I ovulated twice, we used NFP and condoms until after I was sure I ovulated and I still got pregnant that time!). Yes it's possible.

But in her case sounds like a negative, neg tests are no good after a few minutes, the results are void.


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## MamaTaraX (Oct 5, 2004)

If someone finds me this link, I'll love them... There is a great little website by a lady and it's all about pregnancy tests. Myths and realities abou tthem, how each type works. It's really cool. Ican't find the link though. Anyway, when I read this post, I thought ofit. It might be helpful for the OP









Namaste, Tara
mama to Doodle (7), Butterfly (2), and Rythm (due at home 1/06)


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## mamaley (Mar 18, 2002)

I've had negatives turn positive--very bright lines--when i wasn't pregnant.


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## BeeandOwlsMum (Jul 11, 2002)

Is it www.peeonastick.com?

That has some pretty good info - including pictures of +/- tests.


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## The Lucky One (Oct 31, 2002)

Her test this morning was







and then af hit her when she got to work.

Thanks everyone!


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## MamaTaraX (Oct 5, 2004)

Adina!! I love you!!!! That's it! Thank-you for saving what little sanity I had left! {{big ol squishy happy pregnant hugs}}

Namaste, Tara
mama to Doodle (7), Butterfly (2), and Rythm (due at home 1/06)


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## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AdinaL*
since even FRER need at least 20miu of hcg.

There was a test done here is the link FRER study that shows that FRER can and has detected a hcg of 5mIU. This has caused many woman i know to get a false pos+ I know about at least 15 ladies on anouther message board that had this problem it was a big heart ach for them









If you r enterested in a site were u can see hcg levels I have one that has around 80 different brands on it. This is a site that i spent a lot of time working on gathering information from all over the net and a few phone calls.HPT information and tons more


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