My BPAS surgical abortion under general anaesthetic

Today I had a surgical abortion under general anaesthetic [more stories about surgical abortion»].

I found out I was pregnant to a man I had only been with 6 months. I already had a 3 year old daughter and a 10 month old that I had brought up alone, but decided it would all be ok and we could keep the baby.

Almost straight away me and the baby's father started to have problems in our relationship and I spent a lot of time crying not knowing whether I could go through with the pregnancy or not.

I couldn't find anything to look forward to, every day was a struggle, I didn't even get excited about going to the 12 week scan.

When I was 14 weeks gone I finally made my mind up and decided I couldn't go through with it, and started looking online for termination solutions.

I found the BPAS website and decided to call them and see what they could do. They told me they could give me a surgical abortion under general anesthetic through the NHS, and all I had to do was speak to my doctor for a referal.

I rang my doctor the next day, and got a referal over the phone. I was then booked in for a consultation at 15 weeks one day.

The consultation

At the consultation I had a blood test done, spoke to a nurse and discussed my treatment options. They managed to get me in for a week later (16+1) for the procedure.

After I left the consultation I felt so much more settled. The week waiting for the procedure was torture, just because it seemed so long away.

The only reason I was going to change my mind is because I was scared of being put to sleep. It wouldn't have been fair on the baby, or the two children I already have to carry on with it.

The termination

The day of the termination arrived, I got to the clinic and it was completely packed with other girls in the same situation as me.

First of all I was called in to a room to check details.

Next I was called in to see a nurse who asked me about contraception and told me what would be happening.

I had to put two tablets under my tongue to soften the cervix, and then she gave me a suppository which was a strong painkiller and antibiotic (I had to insert it myself which wasn't too pleasent, but bareable).

Then I had to sit in a different waiting room and wait to be called.

I had already been at the clinic for two hours, and the hour wait between seeing the nurse and being called up was awful, I got bad side effects from the tablets, which was shaking and bad cramps.

I got called up after being in the clinic for three hours.

It was nowhere near as bad as I expected

I was so scared of the anaesthetic I started to cry whilst changing into the hospital gown, but the people were so lovely and reassuring, they just chatted to me about everything.

I remember being wheeled into theatre, my arm going slightly cold and my head going numb. Next thing I was waking up and saying 'Oh I thought I was at home'.

I felt so relieved when I woke up that I had gotten through it and it was nowhere near as bad as I expected.

I had a slight tummy ache and the nurse gave me some paracetamol and a hot water bottle. I was supposed to be in recovery for 45 minutes, but slept for 25 of this, so it was only 20 minutes altogether.

The nurse was looking after two other girls as well, but she got me a cup of tea and some biscuits.

Then after my recovery time was over, another nurse came, helped me off the bed and took me to the toilet, and then to get changed again.

She gave me a quick talk on what to expect and do's and don'ts for the next few weeks, and then I was allowed to go back down to the waiting room, have something to eat, see a discharge nurse to get antibiotics and then go home.

Everybody at BPAS was so nice

I was so scared in the days leading up to my procedure, but now I'm home and I had really worked myself up over nothing.

Everybody at BPAS was so nice, and now I'm looking forward to the future I have with my 2 little girls.