I had a medical abortion at 6 weeks 2 days
I had a medical abortion at 6 weeks 2 days of my pregnancy. I was prepared for a terrible experience but also felt, that this is my body, my uterus and my gestational sack and I want to deal with it myself, absolutely not with the help of any surgical intervention.
I got the first pill, after which the foetus should have stopped developing and after 24 hours started sharp pain, and after 30 hours bleeding. I felt great sadness and relief, that the medication was working.
The second dose was much worse. I didn't get any painkillers from the doctor so I decided to take 800 mg of ibuprofen myself. Only 20 minutes after ingesting I got chills and very strong contractions, I was just sitting and trying to stay alive. I was in such a pain, that I wasn't even able to pee, I couldn't relax my pelvic muscles.
I was prepared, that the whole process should take no more than 12 hours, oh boy, I was wrong. The bleeding, which starts after the first dose stopped after taking the second one. I had really really strong pain, I took 2800 mg of ibuprofen the first day, just to lower the pain a little. After 28 hours of taking Misoprostol bleeding started again, nothing heavy. The pain was tolerable just with 1200 mg of ibuprofen per day.
I thought, that the worse part had to be definitely behind me, however, the third day was the real hell. I was literally crying from pain, which was located in my ovaries and pelvis, it was so strong that 1200 mg of ibuprofen AND other analgesia, taken simultaneously, barely had any effect.
The 4th day I had no pain, bleeding slowly stopped. I felt that something isn't right and I am still pregnant. I went for an ultrasound and I was.
The gestational sack was still in my uterus. I was devastated, I really did want to be over it already. I had 5 days left for my body to solve this situation "naturally", otherwise I would have to have a vacuum aspiration. The 9th day my gestational sack left, no blood, no pain, just 1 inch of tissue.
Although it was a very difficult experience, I would decide on this again.
Terms mentioned in this story
Sources will open in a new tab/window and take you away from the Pregnancy Choices Directory website.
- Surgical Abortion
Surgical abortion is a medical procedure to remove the pregnancy from the womb.
There are three ways in which a woman may undergo the procedure:
Local anaesthetic (awake but things are numbed)
Conscious sedation (awake but relaxed due to having been given a sedative)
General anaesthetic (completely asleep).
There are also two methods of carrying out a surgical abortion depending on the stage of pregnancy:
Vacuum or suction aspiration where a tube is inserted through the entrance to the womb (the cervix) and on into the womb. The pregnancy is then removed through the tube using suction.
Dilation and evacuation (D&E) where special instruments called forceps are inserted through the cervix and into the womb to remove the pregnancy.
Sources: - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/abortion/what-happens/
- https://www.healthline.com/health/surgical-abortion
- Medical Abortion
Medical abortion refers to the taking of medication to end a pregnancy and usually takes place over two stages. The first stage is where a medicine called mifepristone stops a hormone that allows the pregnancy to continue. The second stage, usually 24-48 hours later, is where a second medicine, called misoprostol, is used to cause the lining of the womb to break down causing bleeding and the loss of the pregnancy.
Medical abortion doesn't require surgery but sometimes not all of the tissue is passed and may require a small surgical procedure to remove further remnants of pregnancy tissue.
Sources:
