I’ve had a medical abortion today (Saturday) at 5w6d after finding out I was unexpectedly pregnant. I just wanted to share my positive experience because I scared myself silly reading all of the horror stories online.
DP and I spent a lot of time discussing it but ultimately decided we are one and done. We just don’t have the time, money, support or space to welcome another child.
I called our local hospital on Friday, had a call with a consultant followed by a nurse on Wednesday and collected the medication the same day.
I took the first pill (mifepristone) at 12pm on Thursday with no side effects at all.
Then I inserted 4 misoprostol vaginally at 5am on Saturday after taking 2 paracetamol. I started with some very mild cramping within an hour but nothing much. At 8am I went for a wee and noticed a tinge of brown blood when I wiped, then inserted the final 2 misoprostol vaginally. The cramps then started almost immediately.
The cramping came in waves. I would get hot and cold flushes with each cramp. I also had several loose bowel motions throughout the day, which I hadn’t expected but is apparently a common side effect.
Around every 30 minutes I would feel the urge to sit on the toilet. Each time there would be a gush of blood and clots of varying sizes. Interestingly, almost all of my bleeding happened while I was sitting on the toilet rather than soaking pads, which really reassured me because I’d expected to bleed constantly.
This continued from around 8am until around 3pm with cramping and regular toilet trips. I then continued passing some clots without pain until around 5pm. After that the bleeding became just like the heaviest day of my period and the cramping stopped completely.
I was able to eat and drink throughout the day and wasn’t sick at all. I mostly rested in bed during the morning and early afternoon, but by around 5:30pm I was downstairs playing with my two-year-old daughter again. I was tired, achy and drained, but felt well enough to enjoy spending time with her.
Overall, the pain was tolerable with only paracetamol every four hours (5am, 9am and 1pm), a wheat bag and plenty of rest. Although the whole process lasted much longer than I anticipated, it was far less painful than I had prepared myself for.
Obviously everybody’s experience is different, but I hope this reassures somebody else who is lying awake reading horror stories like I was. Reading online had convinced me it would be unbearable, but for me it was more like a very long day with a heavy period, lots of toilet trips and a lot of tiredness afterwards.
I genuinely hope this helps someone who is as scared as I was. 💜