Hi all
long winded post ahead!
I have just been through a medical abortion at 7 weeks gestation on the NHS and wanted to share my experience with you all as I found much comfort from mumsnet whilst going through the process, I just hope to be able to help at least one person.
At just 3 weeks I found out I was pregnant. My husband and I decided within that week we weren’t in a position to keep it so I started contacting round to arrange a termination. I had hoped to get straight on with it, but the only NHS funded place in my area is the local hospital and they will not proceed with anything until you are at least 6 weeks gestation.
i booked the appointment for what we believed to be 6 weeks and in the meantime whilst waiting went through hell with all day every day ‘morning’ sickness
At my appointment, the hospital were amazing, I cannot praise them enough. They run 2 clinics a week for abortions, it was obvious all the other women were there for the same thing and I felt like we had a mutual understanding between us despite not talking to each other.
first off I had a dating scan and had the option to keep the screen turned off. This is where I found out I was actually 7 weeks, so a little further on than expected.
I then had to give a urine sample and they took bloods for checking. I was seen by a counsellor to check it was definitely the right decision, and then a doctor to go through medical history and talk through the process.
once the blood results came back and everything was ok, I was given the first tablet there with the doctor. I was then given the choice to either come back into hospital 2 days later for the final stage or take the tablets home instead. I opted to go home (they said that over 9 weeks gestation you have to do the termination within hospital but because I was under 9 weeks I had the choice).
I had to wait 48 hours before taking the next tablets and during this time was told bleeding may happen but for most it doesn’t. Within 24 hours I started bleeding, nothing much but I passed something which I’m still not sure if it was the pregnancy or a clot.
at 48 hours I took anti sickness tablets, ibuprofen and the first 4 tablets orally. Within a few hours of this the bleeding had ramped up and I was passing a good number of clots. I then took the final 2 tablets orally and the bleeding continued at this heavy pace for a few hours.
throughout I had uncomfortable cramping but nothing worse than bad period pain, it was managed with over the counter pain killers and a hot water bottle. The hospital did give me codine but I never had the need to use it.
the bleeding then calmed down a few hours later and then next thing I was hit with was diharea. Bizarrely the cramps for this were worse than the ones earlier.
by evening everything had calmed down, I just felt really tired and hungry.
the next morning I woke up and was so relieved to feel human again, no sickness. I was able to return to work with bleeding similar to the heavier days on my period so completely manageable.
im now waiting for the 3 weeks to pass to do a pregnancy test but I no longer ‘feel’ pregnant so hoping it has worked.
i just really wanted to reassure anybody as I was so scared beforehand. I was worried what the hospital would think of me, yet they were amazing and non judgemental, I was worried about the process after reading some horror stories and it was all very managable.
sending positive thoughts to anybody else having to go through the same x