what did women use as pregnancy tests before they were sold in stores?

Question

What did they do to find out they were pregnant before it was obvious?

Answer 1

They could go to the doctor and do a blood test. In a couple of weeks they'd be phoned with the results. I'm not sure how or why, but apparently the question was, "did the rabbit die?"

(the rabbit would've died, positive or negative. For those who are curious, hCG (the hormone detected in blood tests for pregnancy) causes changes in the rabbit's ovaries. Only way to tell if a rabbit injected with a possibly-pregnant woman's serum is to kill it, dissect out its ovaries and look at them. So ... the rabbit dies, positive or negative pregnancy result. Hence my not understanding!)

Answer 2

The rabbit test was an early pregnancy test developed in 1927. It consisted of injecting the tested woman's urine into a female rabbit, then examining the rabbit's ovaries a few days later, which would change in response to a hormone only secreted by pregnant women. The hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), is produced during pregnancy and indicates the presence of a fertilized egg; it can be found in a pregnant woman's urine and blood. The rabbit test became a widely used bioassay (animal-based test) to test for pregnancy. The term "rabbit test" was first recorded in 1949 but became a common phrase in the English language.

Modern pregnancy tests still operate on the basis of testing for the presence of the hormone hCG. Due to medical advances, use of a rabbit is no longer required.

It is a common misconception that the injected rabbit would die only if the woman was pregnant. This led to the phrase "the rabbit died" being used as a euphemism for a positive pregnancy test. In fact, all rabbits used for the test died, because they had to be surgically opened in order to examine the ovaries. While it was possible to do this without killing the rabbit, it was generally deemed not worth the trouble and expense.

Answer 3

Women used to wait until they knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were pregnant. They knew when it was likely that they could be pregnant, and if they started getting symptoms, they guessed it. (They did have premarital sex, that has been going on forever, contrary to what another person said above) They used midwives before there were doctors and hospitals and such. And after being pregnant once, general you know what it feels like and what to expect.

Answer 4

you wnt to the dr for a test, there were a variety that used urine and blood, and you had to wait for days to get results. It sounds awful, I like to have the fun of being the first to know, not some lab tech!

there are also early pregnancy signs that can be seen during a pelvic exam, dr are trained to recognize tham,

Answer 5

they would inject a female rabbit with the blood or urine of the woman. if in three days (i think) the rabbit showed signs of enlarged ovaries then the woman was pregnant. but in either case this meant the rabbit died. (hence the question "did the rabbit die?")

aren't you glad we just have to pee on a stick now?

Answer 6

Other women. Actually its not hard to look at someone you know and tell if they are pregnant.

Answer 7

They just waited to see if they missed their cycle, and then they waited to see if the pregnancy continued.

Answer 8

hmm I Think they just went by not having a period. But back in the day they didn't have sex before marriage so if it happened it wasn't a worry if and when it would happen.

Answer 9

You went to your OBGYN!

Answer 10

good question...hmmmm