I've had two medical abortions and it's not pleasant but it's not THAT BAD
Hi girls, What I’m going to start with is that I'm not English/American etc. so I hope my story makes sense / you can understand it.
I had 2 medical abortions. I know this sounds horrible. I don’t want to go into details why I decided to do an abortion, why it happened to me twice (it wasn’t easy so you know).
[There are more medical abortion stories on this page and accounts of abortion at 6 weeks on this page.]
If you’re reading this, please ignore all those negative posts and articles all over the Internet. It’s not a pleasant experience, but it’s not THAT BAD! However, every girl/woman is different.
I live in the UK. Normally my period is regular (same dates ± 2-3 days). This time, it was 10 days late. I didn’t even take a pregnancy test. I could feel I’m pregnant. I already had an experience and I know how my body reacts. My breasts felt tender, I was craving sweets even though I don’t like sweets. Crisps (love crisps!) tasted extremely bitter. I was gaining weight.
I called NUPAS/BPAS to make an appointment. I called on Saturday 19th Jan 2019. They booked me in for Monday 21st.
Waiting time is normally 3-6 hours. I arrived and had to wait for 45 mins until a nurse called me in. She did an internal scan and confirmed that I was 6 weeks and 3 days. After that I had to go back to the waiting room.
After about an hour a nurse called me back in. They take your blood, check iron levels in your blood, ask your medical history.
She asked me if I could come back in the morning to take mifepristone (1st part) and the day after (2nd part - misoprostol). I asked her if I could do the same day treatment. My nurse agreed and booked me in for the next day.
I arrived to the clinic and my nurse called me in at 10:20 am. She gave me mifepristone. She told me I might experience symptoms such as nausea, cramping, light spotting and even diarrhoea. She told me to come back at 16:20 pm, same day.
I was feeling fine all day - no spitting, no vomiting, no cramps etc. Almost like I didn’t even take any medication.
I arrived back to the clinic at 4 pm. It wasn’t crowded. My nurse called me in exactly at 16:20. She asked me how I felt etc. I told her I had no symptoms and I felt fine.
I could see 9 tablets on her desk. She asked me to take 4 tablets - antibiotics first. 2nd - 1 tiny tablet (painkiller). 3rd - she asked how I want to take misoprostol. Vaginally or take orally. There are 4 tablets.
She advised me that if you take them orally, they are absorbed a lot faster. So I put 2 tablets under my tongue on one side and 2 on the other.
They also give you a painkiller that you have to insert in your butt to make the whole process less painful. They give you a glove and ask you to go to the bathroom before leaving the clinic.
As you know, you shouldn’t drive as cramps can start in 30 mins. This is what happened to me. My cramps started in 35 mins.
First time I had an abortion, my cramps started in 1½ hours. Possibly because I had a two day treatment (take mifepristone, come back in 24 hours).
I was with my bf. I arrived home and went straight to bed. I already knew what to expect. I was starting to get very horrible period cramps, but it wasn’t unbearable. If you are used to very strong cramps, you will know. On a scale from 1-10, I'd say 7. I went to the bathroom to check my pad - it started.
Bleeding started. I was ok. I had another painkiller so it wasn’t that bad. In about an hour I started feeling sick. It was about 18:30 pm. I threw up! It didn't happen to me the first time. After about 10 mins I felt pressure in my stomach.
I ran to the toilet and felt a thick blood clot coming out. I could hear it dropping in the toilet. I checked to make sure I passed my pregnancy. It was the size of an almond. It wasn’t big.
The first time I had an abortion, I could feel at least 4-5 clots coming out. Thankfully I wasn’t bleeding that heavy. This time, it was very heavy but no clots. In about 2 hours, the cramping stopped. I even had a pizza. I was extremely hungry and exhausted. After a meal, I fell asleep.
The next day, the bleeding almost stopped. I was worried there may be some tissue left in my uterus and it didn’t fully come out so I contacted BPAS/ NuPAS. They told me it can take up 7-14 days to clear. If nothing changes, call back in 7 days.
2 days later (after my call), bleeding started again. I could see small tissue, egg white like mucous but bloody coming out. It’s nothing to worry about unless it smells. Your body is clearing up.
If you have any questions, post it here. I’ll try to answer any questions. I know how you feel right now. Don’t be scared.