for quite some time now i have gone through about 5 pregnancy tests per month, checking every morning until the tell-tale red drops of disappointment would appear...

this month, on First Response test number 3 (always first morning urine, just to be sure), the faintest of faint lines appeared next to a very bright control line...

i immediately made an appointment and went to the docs about 5 hours later, and not surprisingly the urine test now was negative, to which he just said "sorry", i was immediately defending myself saying "no, i swear i could see a faint line at home. what is the specificity of this test?" and he said "it is designed to pick up very very low levels of hCG, i'm sorry" and i said "no, i want a quantifiable blood test"...

i went home and found the said test, went through the bin to find the previous day's test and inspected them closely, comparing and hoping i wasn't imagining it...
the next morning i needed to call the doc at 11 for my results, but i was told to call back in 30 minutes. i'd been holding my pee in all morning and just couldn't wait any longer, so i took test number 4 in with me, and -- still not as bright as the control line, but definately there. i marched back to the telephone in triumph and called my doctor, and as much as i wanted to scream "i told you so" down the phone, i was just so happy to hear a medical professional confirming that YES i am pregnant.

The blood test came in at 38mU/ml, well under the 50mU/ml that pregnancy tests usually detect at (hCG levels had probably doubled by the time i took the next day's test), so that faint line was very faint indeed, but i'm so HAPPY!