How long did it take for your first app to get published?
4 days I think, updates only take a few hours
You mean publish to a test track first, right? You are testing it, right? 
Yes.
I am on 3rd day today. Hopefully my app gets published tomorrow.
So you published on a beta or alpha or internal test track? What you are waiting on to see if it’s “published”? Generally a new build is ready for me within minutes, every time I update, which I’ve done probably a hundred times in the last few years. You provide the test URL provided by Google, to the tester who clicks on the link in the browser on their device, accepts the Test invite, and then is directed to Google Play to download the pre-release test version of your app.