I got pregnant for the first time at age 30. At the time, I was unemployed & had no health insurance and I was in no position to raise a baby. I had to make the difficult decision to have medication abortion at this time.
It cost $650 total including the follow-up visit at Planned Parenthood. The medication abortion consisted of taking two different pills. The first pill I was given at the clinic on my first visit. I didn’t experience any side effects or any symptoms after the first pill. The second set of 4 pills I was instructed to take at home 24-48 hours after the first pill. After 36hrs, I took ibuprofen & anti-nausea medication and 1 hour after that I took the second set of four pills.
The 4 pills were to be dissolved between my cheeks but they only ended up dissolving a little bit after waiting 30 minutes…so I ended up swallowing a good chunk that was still not dissolved at 30min as instructed by the clinic. I shivered a little immediately upon swallowing the pills. Within 1 hour after taking the four pills, I experienced painful low abdominal/pelvic area cramping & within 4 hours I was soaked in blood.
At 4 weeks post conception, medication abortion felt mostly like a regular menstrual period except for heavier & longer days bleeding and the initial painful cramping. I experienced bleeding for 7 days and very tiny amount for additional 3 days. I did not see any pregnancy tissue come out during my abortion at 4 weeks conception. I took pregnancy test 4 weeks after my abortion as instructed by the clinic and it was negative. But I continued to have symptoms of pregnancy such as low abdomen/pelvic area discomfort and breast tenderness so I went back to the clinic. Urine test for pregnancy was negative at the clinic, I had no signs of infection & everything looked normal on pelvic exam.
For 5 weeks after abortion, I continued to have mild period-like low abdomen/pelvic area cramping on and off. I also continued to have breast tenderness for 5 weeks after the abortion. 5 weeks after the abortion is when my period resumed. After my period all of my pregnancy symptoms went away. From my experience, even though it really sucked that I put myself in a position to have an abortion & I felt horrible that I had to make that choice…at that time it was a necessary choice for me and having medication abortion at Planned Parenthood made it possible. Just sharing my experience in case it helps anyone since it helped me reading about other peoples’ experiences.
