Korean Home Pregnancy Tests - a little misleading!

Hello one and all! I know I have been disgracefully neglecting my blog, however with working full-time, getting married and visiting family overseas; time was tight. However now my circumstances have changed somewhat that warrants many new entries. I'm pregnant (happily) and with living in a strange land (although it's becoming less and less strange) and with the prospect of not leaving before the 9 months are up, I thought I would share my experience to help other expats facing this very same challenge.

Challenge #1 - The Home Pregnancy Test (HPT)

My first experience with this is a memorable one! Although this happened a few months before my current condition was confirmed, I think it still warrants an entry since it made me realise how very ill informed I really was. My first ever experience with a HPT was also my first experience with one in Korea. After chatting to a fellow expat friend who suspected my symptoms at the time warranted a check, I headed down to the local pharmacy. After asking for a "pregnancy testuh" I was met with a confused look. So I then re-enacted the scene from Bridget Jones 2 when she asks for a HPT at a pharmacy in Switzerland. After much gesticulating on my part with exaggerated arm gestures in front of my extended stomach, the pharmacist finally understood me with a great big "ahhhh" and presented me with a box that resembled a test.

So off I went home with some moral support from the same friend as before who decided to casually mention, "oh I hope it's one that has a plus or minus sign". I was like what? Why would that make a difference? She then told me to look at the box. Sure enough the entire thing was in Hangul, including how to read if you're pregnant or not. Great! So I took the test but it really didn't matter since the results meant absolutely nothing to me. I tried translating it using Google Translate but I can't even begin to tell you the things that were coming up. So I called my friend again and asked her what she did when she had this similar problem. Her answer was that she too had no idea so she took the HPT stick, walked around with it and asked random Koreans if it was "yes" or "no". After a good laugh, I asked her which one it is. She said she didn't remember! So I contacted one of my close (and very discreet) Korean friends, explained my predicament and asked her if she could please help. Of course she did, so after I sent a quick digital photo of the stick (with instructions), she was able to tell me right away it was negative. I then made sure to write down that 2 lines means positive and 1 line means negative and ensured that my expat friend knew this too.

It was some time later that the same expat friend was in a similar predicament. So on one of our many shopping trips, I suggested we head to the pharmacy to get a HPT. So we did. We happened to get an extremely helpful pharmacist who also spoke great English. She made sure we knew that 2 lines means "positive". We said don't worry, WE KNOW! But just as we were leaving, she casually mentioned that the test will not show an accurate reading unless the user is at least 2 weeks late in her cycle (sorry guys, too much information). We almost fell over! We asked if that refers to all HPTs in Korea and she said yes. Well that kind of information is rather important! Especially when 2 fairly clueless expats are used to the early response HPTs sold in most Western countries that can detect a pregnancy before you're even due. That's almost a 3 week difference!

So ladies, to sum it up. If you need to buy a HPT in Korea, please note the following:

- 2 lines means positive

- 1 line means negative

- most HPTs cost between 3,000-4,000 won

- don't even bother taking one unless you are two weeks late

Or simply stock up on Early Response pregnancy tests next time you visit home!