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SMNTY Classics: A History of Pregnancy Tests · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to Stephan.
0:07
Speaker 1: I never told your production I Hi Radio. So Samantha,
0:20
Speaker 1: this is a bit of a personal question. Um, have
0:22
Speaker 1: you ever taken a pregnancy test? Yes, yes, I actually
0:28
Speaker 1: I haven't. I think I have had one at a gynecologist, right,
0:33
Speaker 1: And I've told that story, and I was told I
0:36
Speaker 1: was pregnant, and then later it came out he told
0:39
Speaker 1: me this is a thing that happens with pregnancy tests,
0:43
Speaker 1: where sometimes they come up positive, which is a terrifying
0:45
Speaker 1: thought to me. And I've been meaning to research into
0:48
Speaker 1: it because I just kind of was so stressed out
0:50
Speaker 1: and just trusted him that, Okay, I'm not pregnant, this
0:52
Speaker 1: is great news. But I've actually never bought a test
0:55
Speaker 1: or had to take one on my own. So I
0:58
Speaker 1: definitely have a couple of times, mainly because I'm just paranoid.
1:03
Speaker 1: This is before I got on my i U D obviously,
1:07
Speaker 1: and also because I have an io D, because there
1:10
Speaker 1: can be privacies that happen with an io D and
1:12
Speaker 1: that's really dangerous obviously with the ectopic pregnancies and all that.
1:16
Speaker 1: So more of those type of level of concerns, and
1:20
Speaker 1: of course you know, things happen, maybe like your birth
1:23
Speaker 1: control not being effective or something's breaking. So I've always
1:27
Speaker 1: bought two tests. I think in my entire the entirety
1:33
Speaker 1: of my adulthood. M So, yeah, but you know what
1:38
Speaker 1: really drives me crazy about that though, Whenever you see
1:41
Speaker 1: it on TV, they touch it and handle it and
1:44
Speaker 1: hindered around. And I don't understand that because you pee
1:47
Speaker 1: on these sticks. That's disgusting. Why would you do this?
1:53
Speaker 1: That's not where I thought you were going with that
1:55
Speaker 1: that I have some weird like some of these things
1:57
Speaker 1: that does not make hygienic, like it's not higgiena. So
2:00
Speaker 1: I don't understand. I get it, like, I'm sure there's
2:03
Speaker 1: other ways, like maybe you clean it off, but still
2:06
Speaker 1: I don't feel like there's enough cleaning in the world
2:08
Speaker 1: to be handling it like that. Noted, I think we've
2:13
Speaker 1: probably if you're in that situation, usually it's a close
2:16
Speaker 1: person that's there, not always, I suppose, but I guess
2:18
Speaker 1: so in the movies. I mean that's usually what we see.
2:21
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Either way, I still want to touch it, Okay,
2:24
Speaker 1: got it. There definitely been times where I should have
2:26
Speaker 1: bought a pregnancy test, and I didn't because I was
2:29
Speaker 1: too afraid to deal with what I thought would be judgment. Yeah,
2:34
Speaker 1: and but all this has got me really curious about
2:36
Speaker 1: the history of pregnancy test and that is why we
2:40
Speaker 1: are bringing back this classic. So please enjoy. Welcome to
2:46
Speaker 1: Stuff Mom Never Told You from how Stuff Works dot Com. Hello,
2:55
Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I am Caroline and I'm Kristen. So, Kristen,
2:59
Speaker 1: do you like to go garden? I would like to
3:03
Speaker 1: be able to gardens. Yeah. I don't have a much
3:05
Speaker 1: of a green thumb, but sometimes ye know, I go
3:08
Speaker 1: to Target or wherever and or the local gardening store
3:11
Speaker 1: and pick up some seeds. Um. But the things that
3:15
Speaker 1: I do with the seeds are a little bit different
3:17
Speaker 1: than what they used to do with the seeds in
3:19
Speaker 1: ancient Egypt. Yes, in terms of you probably water your
3:24
Speaker 1: seeds do whereas in ancient Egypt you might have urinated
3:30
Speaker 1: on your seeds. Right, And this is not actually about
3:33
Speaker 1: gardening today, we're talking about pregnancy tests. Yes, the history
3:37
Speaker 1: of pregnancy tests. This is um many times over requested
3:42
Speaker 1: podcast topic, and I'm so glad that people have requested
3:46
Speaker 1: it because, as you can probably imagine, pregnancy tests have
3:49
Speaker 1: a pretty colorful history, tracing back to thirteen fifty BC
3:57
Speaker 1: in ancient Egypt and where prey that seed tests involved
4:01
Speaker 1: urinating on seeds. And this is from a great timeline
4:05
Speaker 1: that we found from the National Institutes. Right, they would
4:09
Speaker 1: women would urinate on barley seeds and wheat seeds, and
4:12
Speaker 1: if the barley seeds sprouted, the woman was thought to
4:15
Speaker 1: be carrying a boy, whereas if the wheat grew, she
4:18
Speaker 1: would be painting her pyramid nursery ping uh. And if
4:22
Speaker 1: neither sprouted, she supposedly would not be pregnant. Yeah, and
4:26
Speaker 1: this sounds really ridiculous, like this would definitely not work
4:29
Speaker 1: or have any sort of significance at all. But actually,
4:32
Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties some scientists tested this and found
4:35
Speaker 1: that pregnant women's urine actually did promote seed growth, whereas
4:41
Speaker 1: like if you were not pregnant or if you were
4:42
Speaker 1: a man, no dice y seventy of the time. So
4:47
Speaker 1: maybe we should bring that back, go buy some wheat seeds.
4:52
Speaker 1: I'm just not going to go with that. That's just
4:53
Speaker 1: not enough. But it would be a completely organic pregnancy
4:59
Speaker 1: tests true, But what a mess? Well, I mean, where
5:01
Speaker 1: did you keep it. I mean, I I don't really
5:04
Speaker 1: want to answer that question in detail on this podcast
5:06
Speaker 1: right now. You could you could somehow make it happen.
5:09
Speaker 1: But moving on, and also speaking and speaking of urine,
5:12
Speaker 1: because urine comes up a lot in pregnancy tests, still
5:16
Speaker 1: have to do it and it's it go. This is
5:18
Speaker 1: actually one of the earliest examples of primitive year analysis,
5:23
Speaker 1: which is what pregnancy tests today are. It's just a
5:26
Speaker 1: form of your analysis. But during the Middle Ages, and
5:30
Speaker 1: this is up through the seventeenth century, some men who
5:34
Speaker 1: were called and this is this is a little bit crass,
5:37
Speaker 1: but this is actually what they were called. This is
5:39
Speaker 1: from sided in National Institutes of Health. Google it. It's
5:42
Speaker 1: all over the place. Piss profits, right, These men called
5:46
Speaker 1: piss profits would examine the color of someone's urine and
5:50
Speaker 1: the description is horrific. Oh yeah, if a woman had
5:53
Speaker 1: and this is wow, just so so specific. If a
5:58
Speaker 1: woman had clear pale lemon color leaning toward off white,
6:04
Speaker 1: having a cloud on its surface, prego. Yeah, congratulations, you're
6:10
Speaker 1: pregnant because your urine is cloudy. Yeah. Um. Well. They'd
6:15
Speaker 1: also mix wine with urine to test for any visible
6:18
Speaker 1: reaction that might happen. And alcohol actually does react with
6:22
Speaker 1: certain proteins in urine, so this might have been successful sometimes. Yeah.
6:28
Speaker 1: The thing is these uh, these ancient medics were not
6:32
Speaker 1: all that off base in their obsession with women's urine
6:37
Speaker 1: to test for pregnancy. In the early twentieth century, scientists
6:40
Speaker 1: identified two key hormones that have to do with pregnancy.
6:44
Speaker 1: We've got progesterone, which is the hormone that promotes gest station,
6:48
Speaker 1: and then they identified the hormone h c G human
6:53
Speaker 1: choreonic gonadotropin, which is produced only when or shortly after
6:58
Speaker 1: I should say a fertilized egg attaches to the uterine
7:01
Speaker 1: lining right. And the same scientists who identified h c
7:06
Speaker 1: G UH tested for pregnancy by injecting a woman's urine
7:11
Speaker 1: into an immature rodent and if there was a reaction.
7:15
Speaker 1: This is the so called a Z test because based
7:18
Speaker 1: on their last names ash I'm and Zondeck, could I
7:23
Speaker 1: be pronouncing those corrects? According to this test, if the
7:26
Speaker 1: rodent went into heat despite its immaturity, it would mean
7:29
Speaker 1: that the woman to whom the urine belonged was Bregger's.
7:32
Speaker 1: And this is an example of a bioassay, which means
7:36
Speaker 1: that some kind of chemical or hormone in humans could
7:42
Speaker 1: have a reaction in another and animals the other mammal.
7:46
Speaker 1: But you have a bio esay between between two different animals.
7:49
Speaker 1: It doesn't just have to be human too rodent, right,
7:52
Speaker 1: And this test was taken a step further by Lancelot Hogben,
7:57
Speaker 1: who is not a fictional Harry Potter character. Salt Dog
8:01
Speaker 1: been in South Africa. He adapted the test to be
8:04
Speaker 1: conducted using frogs, but for some reason that one really
8:07
Speaker 1: never took off. They probably kept hopping away. Uh. But
8:12
Speaker 1: then in the nineteen thirties we have Dr Maurice Friedman
8:16
Speaker 1: of the University of Pennsylvania discover that injecting YEARN into
8:20
Speaker 1: a female rabbit could detect pregnancy. Hence we have the
8:26
Speaker 1: rabbit test, which is why. And I don't want to
8:29
Speaker 1: I don't want to give away anything for those of
8:31
Speaker 1: you who have not caught up with all your mad men,
8:33
Speaker 1: I've never seen it. Well, it takes place, as you
8:36
Speaker 1: probably know, in in the sixties and there is a
8:40
Speaker 1: character who at some point where has to go get
8:43
Speaker 1: a rabbit test man. They were still doing in the sixties. Yeah,
8:46
Speaker 1: and that's what what made me, uh, what made me
8:48
Speaker 1: think about it. And there's also an episode of mash
8:52
Speaker 1: Yeah with Hot Lips or Hot Lips has to go
8:54
Speaker 1: and they want to kill radars rabbit. Yeah, um yeah. Well, basically,
8:58
Speaker 1: this test works by injecting urine again into a rabbit,
9:05
Speaker 1: and if hCG is present, it tricks the rabbit's body
9:07
Speaker 1: into thinking it's pregnant and stimulates the ovaries and um,
9:12
Speaker 1: it kind of spurs the growth of these tissue structures
9:15
Speaker 1: called the corpora lutilla and corpora him or agica um.
9:21
Speaker 1: But if or fortunately for the rabbit, the only way
9:23
Speaker 1: to tell if the things were growing is to euthanize
9:26
Speaker 1: and dissect. Yes. Um, so that's why there was a
9:30
Speaker 1: common phrase the rabbit died to say that a woman
9:33
Speaker 1: is pregnant. It's sort of a grim way to announce
9:36
Speaker 1: your pregnant, right, because it has to do. But the
9:38
Speaker 1: thing is, though this was I think from snopes dot com.
9:41
Speaker 1: They were clearing up the phrase of the rabbit is
9:45
Speaker 1: dying meaning that a woman is definitely pregnant. Because the
9:48
Speaker 1: thing is, if the rabbit died, she could be pregnant
9:52
Speaker 1: or not, because no matter what to test it, the
9:55
Speaker 1: rabbit's got the rabbit always does whether you're pregnant or not. UM,
10:02
Speaker 1: we get into more non animal science, non involving rabbits,
10:07
Speaker 1: and right in the seventies UM, when greater strides were
10:12
Speaker 1: made towards the tests were more familiar with Now UM,
10:15
Speaker 1: scientists still weren't exactly sure about the role of hCG
10:18
Speaker 1: and normal pregnancy, or what normal level should be. But
10:22
Speaker 1: six the f d A f d A approval was
10:26
Speaker 1: sought for the early pregnancy tests, which actually became known
10:29
Speaker 1: as the Error Proof Test or EPT, and UH in
10:33
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, EPT was ready for the US market. Yeah,
10:36
Speaker 1: and we can we have actually cancer research to thank
10:40
Speaker 1: for the home pregnancy tests because h c G shows
10:45
Speaker 1: up when a woman or when a Ferlie's egg attaches
10:48
Speaker 1: to the uterine lining, like I said earlier, but it
10:50
Speaker 1: also shows up in the development of certain cancers. So
10:55
Speaker 1: some scientists were looking into whether or not they could
10:58
Speaker 1: develop some sort of early answer detection tests, and along
11:02
Speaker 1: the way we're able at the same time to develop
11:05
Speaker 1: these home pregnancy tests UM, which, as you can imagine,
11:09
Speaker 1: this isn't too too long after birth control arrives on
11:13
Speaker 1: the market. What was it nineteen seventy two is the
11:17
Speaker 1: year I want to say, when it became available to
11:20
Speaker 1: married and unmarried women alike. Uh So, then you have
11:24
Speaker 1: a few years later following on that the at home
11:27
Speaker 1: pregnancy test, and like you said, in ninety becomes advertised
11:32
Speaker 1: in major women's magazines, including Mademoiselle, McCall's read Book, etcetera. Right,
11:37
Speaker 1: so it was pretty much widespread and accepted by then.
11:39
Speaker 1: And actually one article in nineteen seventy nine and one
11:42
Speaker 1: of these women's magazines said it was you know, it
11:45
Speaker 1: was giving props to the home pregnancy test because it
11:48
Speaker 1: said that it protected women's privacy who didn't want their
11:51
Speaker 1: doctors to know they were sexually active. Right, because they
11:54
Speaker 1: could still be taboo to go if you're a single woman,
11:56
Speaker 1: to go into your doctor's office and have to get
11:58
Speaker 1: a pregnancy test and then be slight shamed by your gynecologists.
12:03
Speaker 1: That's not that's not fun. And one of the one
12:06
Speaker 1: of the advertisements from this is coming from nine in
12:09
Speaker 1: Mademoiselle says, for your ten dollars, you get a pre
12:13
Speaker 1: measured You get pre measured ingredients consisting of a vial
12:16
Speaker 1: of purified water, a test tube containing, among other things,
12:20
Speaker 1: sheep red blood cells, as well as a medical dropper
12:23
Speaker 1: and a clear plastic support for the test tube with
12:26
Speaker 1: an angled mirror at the bottom, so you can pretend
12:28
Speaker 1: to be a scientist. Yes, you have to be a
12:30
Speaker 1: little bit of a scientist. And there is a description
12:32
Speaker 1: of a woman who had, uh, you know, she was
12:34
Speaker 1: recalling taking one of these very early at home pregnancy tests,
12:38
Speaker 1: and she said that it really wasn't that easy to use,
12:42
Speaker 1: as you can imagine from all of the things that
12:44
Speaker 1: come in this box for your ten dollars. She said,
12:47
Speaker 1: you pretty much felt like a chemist, and you had
12:49
Speaker 1: to put the drops of urine into a tube and
12:52
Speaker 1: shake it up, and put a stick with white beads
12:55
Speaker 1: in it and hold the tube and turned upside down.
12:57
Speaker 1: There's no way, I was. Yeah. So, uh. It has
13:00
Speaker 1: since come a long way, and in two thousand three,
13:04
Speaker 1: the FDA approved clear Blue Easies digital pregnancy tests that
13:09
Speaker 1: got rid of the line that you had to detect
13:11
Speaker 1: and just says pregnant not pregnant, right, easy enough? Yeah,
13:15
Speaker 1: I mean I would still take fifty. I would make
13:18
Speaker 1: sure to get fifty. I pull a Murphy Brown. Well
13:21
Speaker 1: that's a good yes, I did just reference TV show
13:26
Speaker 1: elaborate on your Murphy Brown reference. Please no Murphy Brown
13:29
Speaker 1: in a in an episode of My own took what
13:33
Speaker 1: was it, twenty or twenty one pregnancy tests and then
13:35
Speaker 1: they were all positive. So I would absolutely Murphy out.
13:38
Speaker 1: We'll see. That was the question that I had as
13:40
Speaker 1: I was researching home pregnancy tests. Accuracy. Can we trust
13:46
Speaker 1: these tests? And they're they're pretty reliable, according to web md.
13:52
Speaker 1: Web and B suggests you take a pregnancy test when
13:54
Speaker 1: you experience in this period nausea, breast tenderness, fatigue, right,
14:00
Speaker 1: and but most sources also suggest you wait until after
14:03
Speaker 1: you've missed a period, because if you take it any earlier,
14:06
Speaker 1: the level of hCG you could be too low, or
14:08
Speaker 1: the embryo might not have been implanted yet. So all
14:11
Speaker 1: these tests that say, oh, yeah, accuracy, like the day
14:14
Speaker 1: after you have sex, I'd wait a little bit. Yeah,
14:16
Speaker 1: you might want to Sure, you might want to wait.
14:18
Speaker 1: And also you have to take into account if you've
14:20
Speaker 1: had a lot of liquids right before you take your tests,
14:23
Speaker 1: it could dilute the results. Um. And here's here's the
14:28
Speaker 1: one thing about home pregnancy tests that is a little,
14:33
Speaker 1: a little troubling. A false negative saying that you are
14:38
Speaker 1: not pregnant when in fact you are, is more common. Terrified,
14:43
Speaker 1: it's more common than a false positive, especially if, like
14:46
Speaker 1: you said, Caroline, if you take the test a little
14:49
Speaker 1: too soon, um, before you've missed that that first period, right.
14:53
Speaker 1: And actually there are several things that can affect whether
14:57
Speaker 1: you get the correct answer. UM, if you're taking fertility
15:02
Speaker 1: drugs that contain hCG, you risk getting a false positive. UM.
15:07
Speaker 1: Also if you've recently been pregnant, if you have ovarian cysts,
15:11
Speaker 1: have experienced an ect topic pregnancy, or if your menopausal,
15:14
Speaker 1: you risk getting a false positive. So those are just
15:16
Speaker 1: some some things to keep in mind. It's not saying
15:19
Speaker 1: that home pregnancy tests aren't very reliable. You just have to,
15:23
Speaker 1: you know, keep in mind that there are a lot
15:24
Speaker 1: of different things going on to detect that actually detect
15:28
Speaker 1: that hc G. And I just want to assure people that, um,
15:31
Speaker 1: most medicines do not affect pregnancy tests. And see if
15:35
Speaker 1: you're on birth control or antibiotics, don't worry. And even
15:39
Speaker 1: though we have just outlined a number of caveats about
15:42
Speaker 1: home pregnancy tests, statistically they are nine accurate if you
15:48
Speaker 1: follow the directions carefully and of course, as we always
15:51
Speaker 1: say in the podcast, with anything related to the female body,
15:56
Speaker 1: if you're concerned, go see your doctor, Go see your
15:59
Speaker 1: nurse practitioner, get a year in test there. Or you
16:01
Speaker 1: can go take a blood test which is performed at
16:04
Speaker 1: a doctor's office, which is used less often, but it
16:07
Speaker 1: can detect pregnancy earlier, although it takes longer to get
16:10
Speaker 1: the results. Right, So if you want to be really
16:12
Speaker 1: sure and you're okay with waiting, yeah, definitely go to
16:15
Speaker 1: your doctor. Yeah, absolutely, Um. And of course if your
16:17
Speaker 1: pregnancy tests says that you're pregnant, then you should go
16:21
Speaker 1: to a doctor. Should really go to the doctor. That's
16:23
Speaker 1: a that's a good time. But here's here's the thing. Um,
16:26
Speaker 1: we found this article on feminism and home pregnancy tests
16:31
Speaker 1: asking the question of whether or not home pregnant home
16:34
Speaker 1: pregnancy tests are a feminist technology, and I fully expected
16:39
Speaker 1: the answer to be a resounding yes. Yeah. And Lynda Lane, Uh,
16:43
Speaker 1: the article is called the home pregnancy test a feminist technology?
16:47
Speaker 1: Question mark, Um, she says no, but they're not because
16:51
Speaker 1: it takes away women's autonomy and self knowledge. Right, Because
16:55
Speaker 1: going into this research, I expected it to assume that
16:58
Speaker 1: the answer would be yes, because I think you mentioned
17:01
Speaker 1: earlier that one of the articles from nine says, finally, women,
17:05
Speaker 1: we don't have to you know, you don't have to
17:07
Speaker 1: get risk going to the doctor and being shamed if
17:10
Speaker 1: you need to take a pregnancy test. But she says
17:13
Speaker 1: that home pregnancy tests have actually kind of undercut the
17:19
Speaker 1: need for better women's healthcare and prenatal care because we
17:23
Speaker 1: can now just go to the drug store and for
17:26
Speaker 1: ten bucks fifteen bucks go buy a home pregnancy tests,
17:30
Speaker 1: or you can even get like a value pack a
17:32
Speaker 1: pregnancy test and and take care of it like that.
17:35
Speaker 1: And she says that fifteen confirmed pregnancies and end in
17:39
Speaker 1: early spontaneous abortion a k A. Miscarriage, and since most
17:43
Speaker 1: occur within the first weeks of pregnancy, she argues that
17:46
Speaker 1: there are advantages to take performing the test later, which
17:49
Speaker 1: there are. I mean, that's like we said, you need
17:51
Speaker 1: to wait until you miss that first period, probably to
17:54
Speaker 1: get better. She says that that, uh, giving yourself a
17:59
Speaker 1: test to really could lead to undo stress whether you
18:02
Speaker 1: whether the pregnancy is wanted or whether it's not, because
18:07
Speaker 1: you know, let's say you do want to be pregnant.
18:08
Speaker 1: You're very excited, you've been trying. You take that test
18:11
Speaker 1: really early and it says positive, and then you're one
18:14
Speaker 1: of those people who have an early miscarriage. That could,
18:18
Speaker 1: you know, be heartbreaking. But then you know, there's also
18:21
Speaker 1: the other side where let's say somebody doesn't want this pregnancy,
18:24
Speaker 1: it was not expected. Then they've got to start thinking about,
18:27
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, well, what am I gonna do? You know,
18:29
Speaker 1: am I going to have this baby? Am I not?
18:30
Speaker 1: You know, a lot to think about when you know,
18:33
Speaker 1: if you would just wait a while, you know well
18:35
Speaker 1: and Lane also argues that the availability of home pregnancy tests,
18:40
Speaker 1: kind of having that fail safe there at the drug
18:43
Speaker 1: store that anyone can go out and purchase, has distracted
18:48
Speaker 1: us from paying closer attention to our bodies, to our
18:52
Speaker 1: menstrual cycles, to our reproductive systems, and not paying attention
18:56
Speaker 1: to the physical signs that might indicate pregnancy, instead relying
19:01
Speaker 1: on massive drug companies to sell us these these urine sticks. Yeah,
19:07
Speaker 1: she says, the only feminist pregnancy test is to listen
19:11
Speaker 1: to your body, to all those things that web Indy
19:13
Speaker 1: talked about, the mis period, nausea, breadth, tenderness, and fatigue,
19:17
Speaker 1: although I think it's a compelling point, though, She says that, uh,
19:20
Speaker 1: one feminist method to determine if you're pregnant is by
19:23
Speaker 1: doing a pelvic self exam or having I don't know.
19:26
Speaker 1: I don't know about that exactly. I don't know how
19:28
Speaker 1: to do a pelvic self exam. Maybe that you know
19:30
Speaker 1: this is a I don't. I don't have a speculum
19:32
Speaker 1: lying around, yes, she says. Um, a contributor to the
19:36
Speaker 1: National Institutes of Health website, recalls having had a classic
19:39
Speaker 1: speculum around from the do it yourself pelvic Exam days
19:42
Speaker 1: where they're doing yourself pelvic exam days. I missed them, apparently,
19:46
Speaker 1: and she says she used to diagnose her first pregnancy
19:49
Speaker 1: by observing changes in her cervix. I think that would
19:53
Speaker 1: be but but okay, okay, that don't terrify it, So
19:57
Speaker 1: calm me down. You do look kind of terrified. But
19:59
Speaker 1: that would be pretty incredible to be then in tune
20:04
Speaker 1: with your body that you can observe the own changes
20:07
Speaker 1: in your service. I get where Lane's coming from. Me.
20:11
Speaker 1: I think that I'm not I'm not completely on board
20:14
Speaker 1: with this notion that home pregnancy tests are anti feminists.
20:18
Speaker 1: But I get what she's saying. I think that perhaps
20:20
Speaker 1: we should, um expand the I don't want to say
20:25
Speaker 1: arsenal because that sounds so militant. Perhaps expand the resources
20:31
Speaker 1: available to us, including perhaps do it yourself pelvic self examples.
20:37
Speaker 1: I'm not doing it, and I mean but Caroline Lane also,
20:41
Speaker 1: she also says that a friend could help you do it,
20:43
Speaker 1: so you know what, Kristen, what are you doing later? What?
20:48
Speaker 1: I really I like my kind ofcologist. I've gone to
20:51
Speaker 1: her from ten years. I will stick with her and
20:54
Speaker 1: listeners out there if you have, if you have any
20:58
Speaker 1: recollection of the do it yourself pelvic Exam days, or
21:00
Speaker 1: if you're familiar with this in doing pelvic pelvic self exams,
21:07
Speaker 1: please write us in and let us know. I'm I'm
21:08
Speaker 1: genuinely curious to know more. I've never heard about it. Yeah, um,
21:13
Speaker 1: and I think with that, I think that's our history
21:16
Speaker 1: of home pregnancy, just a brief history of being on
21:19
Speaker 1: seeds and killing rabbits. But how fascinating though. We got
21:22
Speaker 1: to learn about piss profit I know, and about what
21:25
Speaker 1: they looked for in urine, which grosses me out. That's
21:27
Speaker 1: gonna be my new It's my my favorite factor the week, Caroline.
21:29
Speaker 1: You know that's my new band name. Also, yes, we
21:32
Speaker 1: should start the pist profits band name and it's so yeah.
21:36
Speaker 1: If you'd like to join our bands, send us an
21:37
Speaker 1: email Mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com. And
21:42
Speaker 1: I have an email here from Daniel. I just have
21:45
Speaker 1: one to to read today because it's just so great.
21:49
Speaker 1: This is my it's actually my favorite, one of my
21:50
Speaker 1: favorite emails we've ever gotten. Um. This is in response
21:54
Speaker 1: to our episode on Douching entitled Baga Douche and it
21:58
Speaker 1: goes like this You're do podcast reminded me of a
22:01
Speaker 1: traumatic episode of my childhood during the time period when
22:05
Speaker 1: Mass and Gil was airing your favorite commercial so eloquently
22:08
Speaker 1: acted out during the podcast, I thank you. My older
22:12
Speaker 1: brother and cousin put me up to something dastardly. I
22:15
Speaker 1: was perhaps seven or eight, and the older children convinced
22:17
Speaker 1: me that I should go up to my grandmother and
22:19
Speaker 1: re enact said commercial while they hid outside her bedroom door.
22:23
Speaker 1: I slowly stepped into the room and asked, Oh, no, Grandma,
22:29
Speaker 1: can I ask you a personal question? Yes, Daniel, Grandma,
22:33
Speaker 1: do you douche? No? But I used to we don't
22:38
Speaker 1: have sex anymore. Oh No, I ran from the room
22:41
Speaker 1: screaming while my brother and cousin died laughing in the hallway.
22:44
Speaker 1: Your podcast, while also informative, brought me back to this
22:47
Speaker 1: humorous memory of my childhood. I now need to devise
22:50
Speaker 1: an appropriate revenge for my brother's grandma. Do you do
22:56
Speaker 1: you got a little more information than he requested, So
23:00
Speaker 1: thank you to everyone who has written in mom stuff.
23:03
Speaker 1: At how stuff works dot com is the email address,
23:07
Speaker 1: and if there's anything about the history of home pregnancy
23:09
Speaker 1: tests we fail to leave out, send it our way please,
23:12
Speaker 1: or you can post it over on our Facebook page,
23:15
Speaker 1: or you can alert us on Twitter. Our tag is
23:18
Speaker 1: at mom Stuff podcast, or you can find us on
23:21
Speaker 1: our blog It's stuff Mom Never told You from how
23:24
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Be sure to check out our
23:29
Speaker 1: new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff
23:33
Speaker 1: Work staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing
23:36
Speaker 1: possibilities of tomorrow. The How Stuff Works I Fine app
23:39
Speaker 1: has arrived. Download it today on iTunes, brought to you
23:47
Speaker 1: by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are
23:51
Speaker 1: you