When I found out I was expecting my first child, I had never heard of pregnancy test tweaking.
When we were trying for baby number three, however, I was obsessed.
A few months after my wedding, back in 2010, I realized out of the blue I hadn’t had a period in a while. When I checked my planner, I discovered it had actually been nearly 8 weeks since Aunt Flo had last paid a visit. A quick trip the store on my way home from work and three pee sticks later, it was confirmed. I was going to be a mother!
Fast-forward almost four years: We were trying for our third child. Ovulation had come and gone, but the two-week wait was killing me. Of course, I tested way too early. Like every day. All of the tests came back “negative” for a week or so until I detected the faintest glimmer of a second line. Squinting in the bathroom, I had myself convinced of that extra line. But just to be sure I wasn’t absolutely crazy, I took photos of these tests.
And I posted them on a BabyCenter Community group so a complete stranger could “tweak” them.
So what is tweaking, exactly? Not to be confused with twerking, tweaking is editing a photo of a pregnancy test to make it easier to see a very faint line — if there is one. Using photo editing software, tweakers use a combination of effects and adjustments to the saturation, brightness and lighting in order to determine if there really is a line. Or, it might be a dye run, an evaporation line or just wishful thinking.
Even with cautious confirmation via the “expertise” of an online tweaker, I kept taking tests and requesting tweaks.
I might have also paid 99 cents for an app that was capable of doing the exact same thing any primitive photo editing software could. This was not my proudest moment.
Finally, when enough time had passed to obtain an accurate pregnancy reading, I whipped out a digital test. Just to be sure.
Yes! I was pregnant with baby number three!
The plus side (pun intended) of all this tweaking: I had a pretty good idea I was pregnant at barely 5 weeks along, meaning I could rejoice and start mentally preparing for another baby. The downside: I had a pretty good idea I was pregnant at barely 5 weeks along, meaning I had an “extra” month of conscious pregnancy/waiting to meet my baby.
Hmmm.
So why did I go through all of this trouble torturing myself with pregnancy tests and tweaking nonsense? Because it was a highly scientific way of knowing if there was a bun in the oven? Because it was thrilling? Because I loved wasting money on pregnancy tests? Because I just HAD to know as soon as possible?
I have no idea, honestly. But I would definitely do it again.
What do you think of pregnancy test tweaking? Have you ever had a test tweaked?
Share your thoughts!