I did the test on Friday and was at the BPAS clinic on Monday

I never wanted a baby

I wanted to write this to give my experience of medical abortion at 7 weeks. I am 38, been with my partner for 15 years and we simply did not and have never wanted a baby. We did not have unprotected sex either so it was a total shock to find out I was pregnant.

I did the test on the Friday and Monday I was at the BPAS clinic for my first consultation. If they had been open on a Saturday or Sunday I would have been in there then. I agreed to pay privately as I wanted it to be over as soon as possible and had been advised by the BPAS care line it could be up to an 18-week wait on the NHS.

[For links to more stories about medical abortion, abortion at 7 weeks or BPAS use this page.]

The first consultation was fine, the staff were very professional and courteous. I was there for about 1½ hours. The worst bit was sitting in the waiting room surrounded by people over 20 years younger than me discussing something called the 'X factor'. One girl was crying at how much the finger prick test hurt. I was then booked for the first tablet the following Monday - I would have gone sooner if I could but there were no appointments.

The weeks wait was worse than the process itself. I was suffering morning sickness, extremely sore breasts and general lethargy and lack of appetite. I was going to bed at 8 pm and literally dragging myself out of bed at 9 am the next day.

Monday I had the first tablet orally. No problems encountered.

Went back the following day for the 4 x vaginal tablets. These were inserted at 1.15pm.

My partner drove me home (about 30 mins) and I felt fine. Had some soup and french stick for lunch - this was to be a mistake.

3.15pm felt some period-pain and vomited quite violently. Some light spotting and small clots. Didn't need any pain relief (had been given codeine 30mg to take). The vomiting was the worst part but lasted only 30 seconds or so. Went to bed with a small hot water bottle from Tesco's that just fitted down the front of my jogging bottoms. It was a Godsend. I put the electric blanket on the bed and this helped enormously too. I did have chills at this point but nothing horrendous.

4.14pm large rush of clots some 'felt' quite big couldn't see anything in the toilet other than 'red' was sick again but not like the first time. Felt better and had a small drink of Lucozade. Total time in the toilet was less than 2 minutes.

5.15pm (everything was happening in an hourly cycle)
Lots of clots again - they felt about grape/golf ball size but couldn't make anything out in the toilet other than blood. Had backache at this point but expected the pain to be much worse having read other stories online so didn't take any pain relief as I was saving it for when the pain got too bad. Was sick again but less than last time. Again only a couple of minutes in the toilet.

6.15pm felt so much better got up and went downstairs. Went to the loo and a very large what felt like a sausage slipped out. I think this was the foetus / placenta as it was definately the largest of the clots. Again couldn't see anything in the toilet just red.

Was in the toilet about 1 minute. Felt instantly better - no pain. Had 2 slices toast and some more lucozade.

Didn't have any more pain after that and only small clots when I went to the toilet (I was pushing to try to get everything out as I didn't want any retained products).

So that was it. Slept fine I took NO pain relief at all from start to finish as I expected it to be agonising and it wasn't so saved my tablets for the 'worst' which never came.

Woke up this morning at 7am which would have been impossible before felt full of energy, morning sickness has gone and breast pain has nearly gone. I have some light bleeding but nothing bad. I have only used 3 x Always Ultra pads from the start to this point - 10.30am the following day (but a LOT of blood / tissue went down the toilet). Some moist toilet tissue is recommended for a clean up.

So in summary it wasn't pleasant but it wasn't agonising. I am not squeamish as I work in an Operating Theatre and am used to blood but there was a lot more than I expected. If I had taken the Codeine prophylactically at the start it would have been even less painful I guess.

I am glad I chose this as I was tempted to change to a Suction procedure after reading some stories online about Medical Abortion. I hope my account gives some people some insight of what to expect.

I dont regret my decision at all and I guess this makes things easier. Some of the traumatic cases I read I suspect are from girls who didn't really want an abortion so that makes the process so much worse.

Good luck with whatever you choose.