At home abortion... need advice.

[Courtney10891]

Hi,

I found out 2 weeks that I'm pregnant. It came as a shock. I already have a 11 month old and a 3 year old. I was breastfeeding and hadn't had a period since before my last pregnancy. Me and my partner have decided to terminate the pregnancy. Due to Covid I have been advised to have an abortion at home. Has anybody been through this procedure? I took the first tablet today and will take the next tablets on Friday. I know it will be Friday that I will bleed and have pain but just wanted to know how long it lasted and was it bearable etc. I am pretty scared. Thank you x

I’m sure it will be different for everyone so if I were you I wouldn’t read too much into anyone else’s experiences. What I would do is make sure you and your DP understand the “red flags” as explained by your HCP and know what to do if you think something is wrong.

Other than that plenty of paracetamol, fluids and rest. Also I’d make sure your other DC are being taken care of as you may not feel like being around them

I had one years ago where they gave me the tablets and my boyfriend drove us home. Only about 10 mins away from the clinic but I started bleeding almost straight away so put a pad on as soon as you take it.

I felt fine at first, just had some cramps and was like a period.
Then it suddenly changed, I got a splitting headache, threw up everywhere and could not stop vomiting. Then I was on the toilet when it all passed. To be honest that is the best place at that point as I wasn't aware of how much blood there would be I don't think any sanitary wear would contain it.
After that I was okay, went to bed. Had a bad period like bleeding for a few days. The worst bit for me was that it was "incomplete" so around a week later I just had sudden major bleeding when I was out (nice) went through all my jeans and coat. Went back to the clinic, had a scan and had to have another set of tablets. They said if that didn't work I'd have to have a D&C. went home that night, wasn't anywhere near as bad as the first. Heavy bleeding that night. But again about a weeks period followed. To be honest the whole ordeal lasted about 2 weeks.

I was 7 weeks 1 day. It breaks my heart it ever happened but i wasn't ready.

I'm not saying any of this to put you off. If I was in that position again I would have had a D&C but even then, I would rather have went through that then had a child I wasn't ready nor was viable for me to raise at that point.

Don't eat too much before hand. Pad on straight away. Constantly take your painkillers every 4 hours. Have lots of rest and just be aware there may be sudden onset bleeding after so always wear a large pad for 2 weeks afterwards if you go out.

Hugs

When I had a missed miscarriage I had to take the same tablet I think you would of taken (or similar) I think mine was misoprostol (I know the tablet I had is used for terminations aswell because I read the info leaflet)

It was split into 2 doses, one then if I remember correctly the other was either 24 or 48 hours after that.

It made me have a heavy period after the last tablet then there were some clots, don’t be alarmed because some are quite large. It woke me up from my sleep gushing out and that’s when I passed everything.

I had stomach cramps but they weren’t severe. The clots were over with in a few hours then it was period bleeding for a couple of days after then tailed off.

Just take paracetamol, make sure you have heavy duty pads in, try rest and as previous poster said make sure you have someone for your other dc as it will be easier if you aren’t having to chase after kids.

Hope everything goes ok for you x

Thank you so much for your replies!

It's really scary because honestly I just don't know how I will react or how bad it will be for me.
I've also got bad morning sickness at the moment so I just feel extra shit and anxious

Everyone is different. I found the process slow to start. The rest made it slower so I moved around. A lot. Once it started the cramps lasted a hour before I passed it, then the heavy bleeding for another two hours. After that it was like a normal period for 4 days.

Hi,

I took the first tablet yesterday and take the other tablets tomorrow. However I've already started bleeding and cramping. Is this normal? X