I had an early medical abortion yesterday at about 7 weeks pregnant - it was less painful than I expected

I used this website a lot in the last couple of weeks and it helped to read other people's experiences so wanted to share mine. Before I start, I need to say that I am the biggest wimp going and was petrified about what was going to happen and after reading some stories on here got myself into a bit of a state but honestly, for me, it was no more painful than a period.

I understand that it might not be like this for everyone. I won't go into my reasons for this abortion but it would be impossible for me to have gone ahead with the pregnancy.

[There are links to more experiences of medical abortion and abortion at 7 weeks on this page]

Contraceptive failure

We had used condoms which failed and the morning after pill (which also failed!) so the decision had been made before I even found out I was pregnant.

On Monday at 10 am I went to the hospital to take the first pill.

The lovely nurse explained the procedure that would take place on Wednesday and basically kept me there for about 20 mins to make sure I wasn't sick. I felt fine, maybe a little lightheaded but generally ok.

About 24 hours later, I had a hideous pain in my stomach, went to the loo and lost a fair bit of blood with some clots in. Nothing else for the rest of the day apart from cramping.

I would pass the products of conception

I went in yesterday and was given the pessary about 10 am.

I was told to lie in bed for an hour and as the cramping was still quite bad (although not much blood loss) I took 2 paracetamol and managed to sleep for a bit.

I got up about 11.15 for a wee and lost a lot of blood.

Another half an hour and I lost a big clot.

They tell you not to look

They tell you not to look but to be honest it was hard not to.

I was told as I have 2 children and was already bleeding that it would probably work quite quickly. I was also told to expect either a build-up of pain or one massive pain and at that point, I would probably pass 'the products of conception'.

I have to say I felt no pain other than mild period type cramps and I suffer from really bad, painful periods and this was nothing like them.

Over the next couple of hours, I passed a lot more blood and clots and saw that I had passed the placenta. The nurse confirmed that I had but she had still not seen the foetus but sometimes the placenta passes first.

By about 5 pm I felt that things had settled down and I wasn't losing much blood at all and no clots. We had a chat and she said I could go in an hour if it had all stopped as it was possible that she had missed the foetus on account of it being small, or that I had passed it at home the day before, or I might still pass it at home.

I came home at about 6 pm, took some more painkillers and got an early night.

I felt ok for the first time in weeks

I woke up this morning feeling ok for the first time in 3 weeks. I wasn't sick, my skin looked better and whilst I still have a bit of cramping, I really do feel well.

I have a follow-up scan and appointment in 2 weeks so I'm hoping I have passed everything.

Right now the bleeding is minimal and is more like the end of a period.

For anyone like me who does too much research and scares themselves with reading horror stories, I really hope this account of my experience has helped you somewhat. Maybe it did help that I have had 2 children (the youngest is 4 months) or maybe I just got off really lightly.

But I'm so grateful to everyone in the hospital who treated me with dignity and respect throughout the whole process.

Good luck with your decision x