Zero Waste/Plastic-Free Pregnancy Detection

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Ways to Detect if You Are Pregnant Without Plastic or Creating Waste (Or: You Have to Be Patient/Dedicated Enough Not to Buy a Home Pregnancy Test That Becomes a Plastic Bio-Hazard.)

All of these tests/methods take time to show results, anywhere from 18 days IF you have been using fertility charting to 8 weeks if waiting for Chadwick's Sign. 

Speaking solely from 3 pregnancies personal experience, most practitioners don't do much in the first trimester. You can alternatively have the same bloodwork done at 5 or 6 weeks as at 12 and can have an ultrasound in the same timeframe to establish a heartbeat. 

We didn't find this helpful, and don't plan on doing anything other than interviewing practioners to find a good fit during the first trimester, if we have more children and no medical need arises.

I am NOT a doctor or midwife though, and this cannot be taken as medical advice, as I have no background or training to back me up other than statistically insignificant personal experiences. This is solely opinion based. 

Here are the methods/tests to find out if you're pregnant that are scientifically based, non-toxic, all-natural, plastic-free, and zero-waste:

1. Probability of Pregnancy Symptoms: Starting from 10-14 days after ovulation, check to see if you have any pregnancy symptoms
2. Fertility awareness: If a woman has been charting using Fertility Awareness methods, she will know when she ovulated. If it has been 18 days since ovulation with no period, then she is pregnant. - See "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler
3. Wheat and Barley test: If a woman is pregnant, she can urinate on wheat and barley seeds over the course of several days. 70 percent of the time, the urine of pregnant women did promote growth, while the urine of non-pregnant women and men did not.  “Accurate Ancient Egyptian Pregnancy Test. Make sure that you use actual seeds from a catalog, not from a grocery store, as barley usually has the endosperm removed and both may be sprayed with herbicides, making germination hard or near impossible. (To Make Truly Zero-waste, use seedlings like wheatgrass and water normally after test results are done.)
4. "Goodell's sign is an indication of pregnancy. It is a significant softening of the vaginal portion of the cervix from increased vascularization...This sign occurs at approximately four weeks' gestation."
5. "Chadwick's sign is a bluish discoloration of the cervix, vagina, and labia resulting from increased blood flow. It can be observed as early as 6 to 8 weeks after conception,^[1] and its presence is an early sign of pregnancy."- Wikipedia
6. Missed Periods and other symptoms. See the following article for signs of pregnancy as well as natural ways to figure out how far along a woman is: Signs, Symptoms, and Landmarks

• Bonus Due Date Calculator:Some studies show this method to being more accurate at predicting a due date, using more individual factors to determine EDD. Still an estimate though, as babies come when they will. More Accurate? Due Date Calculator (And traditional method) 

You may also enjoy Zero Waste Plastic Free Family Planning, and "Baking" as a Couple with Less Waste

Here's to a plastic-free and zero-waste wait for results! Perfect time to work on a project for your homestead.

Little Urban Greenie