I had a medical abortion at 7 weeks 5 days.
By anonymous on 15/03/2015
I had a medical abortion at 7 weeks 5 days. I wanted to share my story as it was really not as bad as I was expecting and I hope it might reassure someone else going through the same thing. I was only about 5 weeks pregnant when I first went to my GP who referred me to the early pregnancy unit at the hospital. They wouldn't see me until I was at least 6 weeks so the whole process took about 3 weeks in total. My first appointment at the hospital was pretty straightforward, I had a scan and then saw a nurse who took blood and asked if I was sure of my decision. I was given an information leaflet and told when to come back for the pills. I never had to see a doctor and wasn't given any option of counselling, I guess they were confident that I was sure of my decision? I wasn't told that there was a surgical option although I knew this from doing my research. I had to go back on a Friday morning at 8:30 for the first pill, and then I was able to go home straight away. The nurse said there shouldn't be any effects from this pill and she was right, for me, I felt completely fine. I had to go back in the next day for 09:30 and my friend came with me, I was so glad she did! I definitely don't advise going through this on your own. I was given 4 tablets to take which dissolved under my tongue and one to insert rectally which I think was to stop sickness. The nurse said she would check on me every hour and to buzz her every time I went to the bathroom, where I had to use a cardboard bedpan so they could take it away. I was in a private room with bathroom. About 15 minutes after taking these pills I felt really bad stomach cramps, I was convinced I just needed to go to the bathroom as I didn't think the pain would start so soon! I tried not to go in case the anti sickness pill came back out but the pain was so bad that I had to go. I went to the bathroom and had already started bleeding, I also felt really sick and threw up. I called the nurse and she checked with the doctor who said that because the bleeding had already started I didn't need to take more pills as they were obviously working. I was given paracetamol and that kicked in really quickly. A while later I got 2 codeine pills but didn't need any more painkillers all day, the pain was really manageable and just like a bad cramp on and off. I probably went to the bathroom about 10 times in total. It was never sore at all but I could definitely feel the clots passing which was a horrible feeling. I had to push a little to get some of them out, most of the time there was a LOT of blood as well so the clots were pretty well hidden. I was terrified after reading stories where people say they can make out fingers etc but this was definitely not the case for me. Eventually the nurse said id passed everything, the last clot I passed was probably at about 3pm. The ward was really short staffed and I was still bleeding quite heavily so I didn't end up getting to leave until 6:30. I eventually just told the nurse the bleeding had got lighter as I really just wanted to go,it had been such a long day and I knew I'd passed the whole pregnancy so didn't want to stay any longer. Overall the whole process was not as bad as I was expecting. It wasn't the best day ever of course but I wanted to share my story to hopefully reassure people. Definitely don't do this alone, my friend was an absolute star and I needed her there! 