Medical Abortion Forum - My Abortion Experience

i used this forum prior to making my decision as one of the ways to get informed about the medical abortion process and people's experiences. reading this forum on this site and others on the similar topics scared the bejesus out of me. i'm glad it did, and though my experience was positive and very different than what many of these people have shared, their negative experiences made me realize what i was possibly going up against and to truly dig deep within and be absolutely sure i wanted to go thru with the medical abortion.

here's my experience.
first off, i'm 30 with two kids - an 11 month old and a six year old. i am happily married but this pregnancy came at a very bad time. i won't get into it, as it's no one else's business, but it was right for us. one day, i will probably want another child, but not now.
other than that, i'm 30 years old and very healthy and really no medical issues to speak of, ever. just a 'normal' healthy woman. my normal period is very mild and i don't get cramps (which may account for why i did not have a very painful experience), just lower backaches.

when i called my dr.'s office, they told me they would not prescribe the abortion pill. so i found a planned parenthood in downtown chicago (near north side office) that would. there was a long wait to speak with the counselor on the phone but once i did that, everything proceeded smoothly. what she told me was short, to the point, and turned out to be true. i scheduled my appointment for a saturday and dreaded going every day leading up to the appointment.

the day of:
it was just the way they explained it on the phone. i arrived on time, filled out paperwork and was nervous. after about an hour of paperwork/waiting, i was called to go to another waiting room. not much time passed, and they gave me an ultrasound (yes, with the probe (inside your vagina), but big whoop - it was not uncomfortable at all and it's the best way to tell how far along you are) -- but because people either on this forum or another complained about it, i was aware before arriving that they may use the probe for ultrasound. the tech was quick and kind and told me how far along i was and then i was taken to another room (dressed, of course) to have my blood pressure taken, my temp taken and my finger pricked to see if i had positive or negative blood (i think the negative people have to get a special shot before taking the meds at the end, but i have a positive blood type so that was that). the only complaint i had was how rough the lady was who pricked my finger - my finger still hurts! it will be fine though. but listen, if my finger prick was the worst thing about this whole process, that is GOOD. then, the billing chick saw me and i didn't have to pay anything because my insurance covered it (i will have to pay a small deductible to my insurance co later though), then i went back and waited a while, agonizing about what it will be like, etc., and then was called in to speak to a counselor/dr who explained the process of taking the medication, the pain relief, what to expect, warning signs, etc etc, and answered all of my questions well. she then had me sign some paperwork and brought me into the 'recovery room' where i sat with two other women who were going to receive the medical abortion meds too. we all were given bags with our medication in it, and a tech/nurse spoke to the three of us together to explain our meds to us in detail. she had us open bottles and verify the correct number of pills were in there and then a doctor came over to talk to us in more detail and to administer our first pill, the mifepristone. i felt very organized and i understood the instructions. they then gave each of us a portable cd player with headphones to again listen to the instructions, to make sure we understood all of them. we were given water and could eat snacks while listening.

after taking the mifepristone, i felt dizzy and sort of disoriented, but it passed in about 30 minutes. later in the day, i'd have little boughts of dizziness but it wasn't a big deal.

i went home knowing i needed to make sure i had supplies and a comfortable place set up in my house for the next day's medical abortion, the part that had me really nervous, because i didn't know how my body would react.

i reccommend you have the following things on the second day for comfort:
all your instructions,
a phone,
comfy pillows, blankets
any remotes,
a heating pad or hot water bottle (i started with a hot water bottle but switched to heating pad which worked very well),
maxi pads
nausea medication (otc) (it turns out I didn't need this),
diarrhea medication (otc) (i also didn't need this),
all four pill bottles from planned parenthood (the ibuprofen, the tylenol 3 with codeine, the misoprostol, and the antibiotic),
a thermometer,
a pitcher of water with glass,
gatorade (or whatever you like),
small snacks/fruit.

so, i had my area all set to go by the next day. 30 mins before i was scheduled to take the misoprostol tablets, i took the ibuprofen, which they said was better for cramps to start out with. then i took the misoprostol bucally (between my cheeks/gums) because i was told at pp that it delivered less severe results than when taken orally all at once. I put the four misoprostol tabs in my cheeks and let them dissolve for 30 mins. after this, my gums hurt a bit, but they are okay now (four hours later), then swallowed the rest of the tablets. within 30 mins i had some small feelings that stuff was going on in my uterus, but really nothing much yet. within about one hour, i had some bigger cramps and aching, pretty bad chills, and tension in my jaw. i had a slight fever too, which is expected. the cramps that were the strongest were NO WHERE NEAR CHILDBIRTH, and were tolerable. the strongest cramps were probably a 5 out of 10 on my own pain scale. i also felt i had to go #2 a bit and eventually did but there was no diarrhea. within two hours, i took the tylenol 3 tab (they told me to alternate between ibuprofen/tylenol 3 every two hours). by then, i was tired and i had some small amounts of blood come out. by the next hour, i had changed my pad once and began to bleed more heavily and regularly with no pain but just constant aches (similar to my bad day of my period). i'm still bleeding heavily and aching, but the bleeding is normal from what they told me to expect). it's 4.5 hours later and i'm going to take a nap after i finish this post. my fever and chills are gone and i'm clearheaded again. my pain level now is more like discomfort and probably a 4 for me.

the key is to be prepared, know what to expect, ask questions, be confident in your decision, and have support. i am a healthy woman with generally normal medical reactions, and this is my encounter. i'm posting this so that others get positive information about this process, instead of just negative, scary ones. i wish i had read more of these prior to my appointment!

i wish anyone going thru this lots of luck! i probably won't check this again, so if anyone has comments, i won't be responding.

i return to pp in two weeks for an ultrasound to see if my abortion was successful. in the event it's not, they will give me the option of taking more medication again, or scheduling a surgical abortion. they also told me the surgical abortion option would NOT cost more money at that point (something i didn't know and was worried about previously). if it doesn't work, i will probably opt for the medication again, as the nurse told me if it doesn't work for me (5 to 8 out of 100 people are not successful), a second time around with the medication should work, if the first round doesn't.

i feel like i can go to work tomorrow too. we'll see what tonight brings, but i feel like it's working and i also feel much better then i thought i would.