It's Positive, now what? Confirming a pregnancy in Korea

As an 8 year old girlie girl planning my elaborate wedding acted out by my Ken and Barbies in my native home of Canada, I would have looked at you as if you had two heads if you told me that I would marry an Australian in Korea and start my family there. Funny, in my very early plans Ken and Barbie failed to fly anywhere which is why you can never plan too much of your life or you might miss out on something fabulous.

So what do you do after you've finally figured out that Korean home pregnancy test (HPT) and it has the two lines? Personally I like to make sure which is why I took 4. Actually I have a confession to make, after my previous experience with home pregnancy tests in Korea (see previous blog entry), I vowed never to use one again which is why I stocked up on a bunch the last time I was overseas just to be on the safe side. My shopping basket looked very peculiar with nothing but HPTs and Kraft Dinner (I told the girl at the checkout that I live in Korea as if that should explain everything; she politely declined to comment).

So once my 4 tests were positive and I walked around all day in a daze waiting for my husband to come home so I could tell him, I had to start thinking about seeing a doctor to confirm everything. Now this is the tricky part. In most Western countries it's standard practice to have a blood test to confirm everything and it's very accurate. Well in Korea when you go to the doctor never having a pregnancy confirmed before, you could end up having all sorts of less accurate tests before you realise that the time saving blood test is not going to happen. That's what happened to me. Now because I had used early response tests from overseas, I was able to confirm things extremely early on (unlike if I had taken a Korean HPT, I would have had to be 2 weeks late). Once at the doctor they made me do a urine test which is interesting because I thought I had already done 4 of those! Sure enough, if it's very early on your HCG levels (pregnancy hormone) are low and probably won't be detected in the urine test (which is the same problem with the Korean HPTs). With 4 positive sticks, I wasn't going to take no for an answer. The next thing they wanted to do was an internal ultrasound. Now I had never heard of one of these things before so I was skeptical and needed to know what its purpose was. It was then explained to me that it can sometimes show the gestation of the embryo, therefore confirming the pregnancy. I was like, you can see something 2 weeks in? The technician said, probably not but maybe. Now, my dear readers, this is where I lost it. I proceeded to inquire as to why anyone in their right mind would let them put a wand thingy up their lady bits when it probably won't show anything? So I ever so politely asked if it's possible to have a blood test? Well shock horror, they could do that for me. Hallelujah!

5 minutes later, a slightly sore arm and an inflated doctor's bill due to the unnecessary tests; I left with the assurance I would get the results in 2 days. When this day finally came, I did indeed get the promised phone call, however it wasn't what I expected. The nurse on the other end started rattling off all sorts of numbers and said that I was "normal". I sat their perplexed wondering what the hell all that meant. After a few minutes I felt the need to interrupt her and ask what she probably thought was the dumbest question.......am I pregnant? After a very lengthy pause with crickets chirping in the background, she started giggling and said "well yes". Okay, fab, that's all I needed to hear.

So expat ladies (and partners along for the journey), to sum up confirming a pregnancy in Korea:

- if you go to the doctor and are first offered a urine test or internal ultrasound, think twice because it might be a waste of time (and money).

- don't be afraid to refuse tests and insist on a blood test.

- from my research into this, the blood test is about as accurate as you can get and can be done extremely early on so you might as well opt for this option first off (and it will save you a lot of unnecessary violation of the lady bits).

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!