Medical abortion at 4 weeks pregnant, advice please.

[Luna3uk]

Hello am 32 and done a early detection pregnancy test early hours of this morning and got a positive. My date of last period was 1st October.. (and the date of intercourse was 16th October) I did take the Ella one morning after pill 48 hours after, the pharmacist said it should be effective as can be used up to 5 days after intercourse, obvs it wasn’t..

My question is am extremely nervous about the procedure of the abortion as I had a medical termination when I was 17 and 9 weeks pregnant.. I bled a lot, was in absolute agony, vomiting and diarrhea.. It was really traumatic.. I was very lucky I rang bupas today an the nurse rang me back for a phone consultation and has sent the pills out by post which should be here Tuesday so am extremely early still in this pregnancy.. Will it be different at this early compared to 9 weeks? Am really upset over not being able to continue with the pregnancy as I absolutely can’t due to health reasons. I already have a 8 year old too so I just feel so guilty and sad..

Thanks in advance.

Hi Luna sorry to hear your going through this. I had a very similar situation to yours. I had a medical abortion around 15 years ago and have recently had another. I was very anxious about it due to my experience the first time.

I too reacted in the same way as you the first time and had sickness and diarrhoea. It was quite painful. I must have been about 8 weeks when I had it. This time I was around 6 weeks, I had some cramping but it was nothing in comparison to the first time. I was sent codeine to manage the pain which I didn't have the first time which could have made a difference.

The process was slightly different too with having to take another set of tablets after the first lot. It also took longer to pass the pregnancy this time. The first time it took around and a couple of hours. This time it was around six hours. Most of this time it felt like a period pain. There were some more painful cramps for a short time. Afterwards I just felt really tired for a couple of days.

I hope the experience is easier for you to manage this time in comparison to last.

Thank you so much for the reply I really appreciate it. Am sorry you have had to go through this again recently but am glad it wasn’t to bad for you physically.. First time round really was horrific but am hoping now am older, have experienced child labour and I’ll be just over 4 weeks pregnant so a lot earlier than last time that it’s not as bad..

I have codeine and diclofenac (in suppository and tablet form) so hoping they will be strong enough too.. Thanks again for the reply.

No problem. I'm glad you found my reply helpful. I was so worried myself about the 2nd time as the first time was so awful so understand how you feel.

I forgot to add that I had a child following the first time so that could have helped it be less painful in comparison. I also have an extremely low pain threshold. I just made sure that I took the codeine as soon as I'd had the 1st lot of the 2nd tablets then had ibuprofen 2 hours later then followed that pattern through the day.

I do hope it's better for you as well this time round. Wishing you all the very best.

You got an appointment quickly, was that private?
I had to wait a week for a phone call which I had this morning and need to have an appointment which I am going into the clinic for this Wednesday and should be able to collect the pills there or take the first while I am there.
Let me know how you get on. I am getting a bit nervous. Hoping it is just like a bad period pain and not much worse.
What do people do about work? Do you just ring in sick if unable to work?

I had a medical abortion at between 5- 6 weeks, and it really wasn't anything worse than a heavy period and I was back in work the next day. I think perhaps those early weeks can make a real difference as I was with a friend when she went through m.abortion at 9 weeks as she had an hour or two of very severe cramps and vomiting, but again was fully recovered the next day and able to work.

Thanks that's good to know. I am just less than 6 weeks now so will be 6 and a couple of days when I start the process. I won't be working on Wednesday so can attend the appointment without a problem. I can work from home so will see how it goes but will just have a day off sick I think.

I was supposed that go on my period on Monday, and my period is usually very very regular but it didn’t come. I suspect I conceived around the 17th of Nov but according to my Flo calendar it was outside my region of fertility so I didn’t think I would get pregnant and after ovulation so I didn’t think pills would work. But I just knew I was pregnant. It’s a first pregnancy but I just can’t keep it. My partner and I are not financially stable right now and if we were to have a child it would just go through so much suffering and I can’t have that. So I took an early detection test today and turns out I’m four weeks and 2 days pregnant. I wasn’t shocked I was really calm about it because I felt it I never miss a period. He was extremely shocked though. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I went to the clinic and got pills. I couldn’t see the pregnancy on a sonogram but the nurse said it’s because it’s still very very early. I took another pregnancy test and it came out positive with one bold line and a really faint double line. I got pills and took them as instructed and had light bleeding which got heavier like my normal period, with constant cramps. I then went to sleep and when I woke up to change my pad I saw that it was as though the bleeding had stopped when I was sleeping but I didn’t see any major blood clots like others say… I am now really worried because I really need this to work. I am due to fly out the country and go to my home country for the next month or so until end of January and by the time I come back if this is a fail I would be 11 weeks, which I really can’t have as I don’t want to go through this again
Is it normal to bleed only for a bit for a 4 week pregnancy? Or is it too early to tell since I just started the process.. I have no clots though

Yes how did you get your treatment so fast ? You’re so lucky !
I called bpas and I am waiting nearly 2 weeks for a call , it’s utter hell . I went private last time but with it being Christmas period and taking time off work j can’t justify doing it again .
The earlier you are the less traumatic it is . The size difference week By week is huge when it comes to early
Pregnancy , it doubles in size every week . So 4 weeks it’ll still be not even a poppy seed it’ll be a tiny microscopic bunch of cells. Xx