I recently found out I was pregnant with a second baby and at first I was torn between wether or not to keep it. I already have one child, a 15mo old little girl, and I decided there is no way I could handle a second child at this time in my life. We are moving states in a month, there's no way I could work, and I need to finish school as well, so I called my OB/GYN and scheduled an appointment to see how far along I was and to talk about the abortion pill.
They told me they could not see me until I was at least 8wks and I did not want to wait this long so I later called Planned Parenthood and they made me an appointment right away to check how far along I was and administer the first pill which stops the pregnancy hormone. I went to my appointment and there were protesters outside but they did not say anything to me so I just walked inside and everyone was very nice, I filled out paperwork and was called back within 15mins. After I went back they had me do a urine sample and took my blood to make sure my iron levels were good or something of that nature, didn't hurt at all and was very quick. Then the ultrasound technician came in and did an ultrasound to make sure I wasn't too far along for the pill and that the baby was in the correct place which everything was good and she asked me if I wanted to see or know in the event that there was more than one baby and I told her no and she printed out two pictures and took them with her as she left which made everything very easy for me. She also told me I was under 7wks so at this point the pill is 98% effective!
The Dr came in and had me watch a video all about what to expect and possible side effects etc and then once I agreed this was still what I wanted she gave me the first pill and an antibiotic along with zofran to help with my nausea. They went over the instructions for what to do at home when I took the second set of pills and prescribed me Tylenol3's to pick up from my pharmacy and before I left I made my follow up appointment for a week later to make sure the abortion was complete. I was out the door in exactly an hour and a half with all my instructions, the mifepristone pills, 6 zofran tablets, condoms and a nuva ring to start using a week after the abortion which should help stop the bleeding and regulate my next period.
The next morning I noticed I had already begun to bleed but for the most part this only happened when I went to the bathroom. Which I later found out was totally normal. That night after I got home from work and picking up my pain meds I ate dinner and took my anti-nausea pill, a pain pill and ibuprofen at 9:40 and put my daughter to bed at 10. I called my sister on FaceTime and had her talk me through starting the whole process I was extremely nervous because all the reviews I had read stated that they were in some sort of pain (most rated it 5/10) and there was possible vomiting, fever, and diarrhea so I knew this could get ugly. I took the mifepristone (4 pills two on each side in between my cheeks and gums) at 10:17. 3/4 had dissolved over the next 30 minutes and I swallowed the rest as instructed, they were very chalky but overall not that bad tasting. And then I waited... No pain for over an hour.
I started to get nauseous at around 11pm and by 11:40 I had begun to bleed. Again, no pain just some slight discomfort like normal period cramps. I started passing blood clots, mostly stringy some bigger ones like maybe a little bigger than a golf ball and this went on until 1:30am and I grew tired of waiting for pain that obviously wasn't coming, the nausea stopped about halfway through and I was just sitting talking about nonsense with my sister so I decided to clean myself up put a pad on and go to bed. At this point the cramps were still no worse than your average menstrual cramps so I put my heating pad on for a little and laid in bed till I fell asleep. Woke up at 5:40 am to pee, passed two more large clots like it was nothing and went back to bed, I woke up at 10am with my daughter and all pain was gone, I felt 100% better I was just still bleeding of course which is to be expected for 1-2weeks.
All-in-all I had a very positive experience and I would recommend going this route to any woman who has decided on abortion if they can catch it early enough for the pill to be an option. I feel relieved and I'm happy and positive in knowing I made the right decision for myself and my family.
I hope this eases the minds of those who, like me, read so many horror stories in the days leading to their own appointments for the pill abortion.