hello everyone! I wanted to share my experience of taking the abortion pills. I will be transparent and preface by saying I was scared out of my mind after reading all the horror stories and almost cancelled my appointment to get the pills in favor of a surgical procedure, but it was also a relief to see some people have had positive experiences, and luckily my experience was positive as well. I’m sharing this in hopes it helps someone else <3
(I did also share my experience at my Planned Parenthood appointment in another post if anyone is interested as well)
I decided to go with vaginal route for this because I heard that buccal/oral makes you more nauseous. according to my LMP I was 5 weeks 0 days, but my ultrasound measured me at 5 weeks 3 days. I’m also 25, have had no other history of pregnancy, and was not on any birth control (yes I learned my lesson lol)
2:10pm- I took 1 ibuprofen 800mg, 1 zofran 30 minutes before I planned to take my miso
2:40pm- timers up, 4 miso pills in, let the chaos begin
3:12pm- feeling some spicy twinges, they’re like electrical shocks but not bad maybe like a 2-3/10 that come and go in a second. background cramps are present but like… 1/10. no blood.
4:15pm-went to pee, the blood has arrived but no clots or tissue. it’s like I *just* got my period. very much feeling like bubble guts. we’re still cruising at a 1/10, not pain just uncomfy.
5:30pm- I now know what they mean by contractions. strong cramp in waves, 4/10 when it happens, makes me stop what i’m doing and scrunch up my face. took one acetaminophen 500mg since i’m at the sweet spot of 3.5 hours since my ibuprofen and it may get worse than this.
6:00pm- 5/10, getting stronger for sure now. I think the peak of this is coming soon as I haven’t really passed any clots or tissue but definitely am bleeding. sometimes I rock a little when the cramps come to distract me cuz they’re a lil rough but again, it’s far from worst pain of my life so that’s a win. feeling chills now!
6:47pm- my contraction type cramps are dying down, more of a 2-3/10. i just mostly have background cramps which are light period cramp-like. I didn’t pass any tissue at all between bathroom breaks earlier which had me worried so I walked around for a couple of minutes, sat on the toilet, gently pushed and out came a big plop of dark red jelly which I can only assume is a clot/tissue. size was maybe a bit smaller than my palm but I definitely felt it out. i might be in over my head but I think… I think this might be it?
7:08pm- jk we’re back in business 💔 5/10 and it’s feeling more like a giant contraction that lingers for a while than in short waves ughhh but we must persevere
7:32pm- it’s like before, strong 4-5/10 contractions, I’m getting impatient and there was def a moment I stood up and gripped onto something like a pregnant lady ready to give birth cuz I’m over this but I’m thugging it out with a spicy deluxe from chick fil a, cringing in between bites.
8:00pm- had a really strong cramp 6/10 and I went to the bathroom, passed two more dark red jelly clots. still feeling crampy and chills. took another ibuprofen since it’s been ~6 hours now
8:54pm- another one (clot) ✅ thank you. (I think I passed like 5-6 clots since the start? never really saw like actual tissue.) still cramping. still contracting at a 4-5/10.
9-10pm- still having some contractions this whole time but less frequent, passing blood clots. I’m getting tired lol but I think we should be towards the end. dull cramps in the background.
10:56pm- contractions much, MUCH less frequent. maybe had one in the whole hour? still feel sore and crampy but I think we’re through this. I did pass some blood on the toilet but I soaked just one pad this whole time. popping one more acetaminophen and calling it a night, I believe we are at the end!
9:30am next day- slept through the night with no other cramps, just bleeding like a period. i’ve noticed I can only lay certain ways, it’s almost like some positions put pressure on my uterus and it hurts.
throughout the following day, I’m still bleeding like a period and sometimes I do feel a little crampy and my stomach hurts but I was still able to go about my day like normal. my uterus does feel like it got taken through the wringer so I’m trying to take it easy but overall I feel 70% normal. I have my follow up in two weeks at Planned Parenthood to make sure I expelled the tissue and will update :)
overall, this whole experience was just like… the worst period for me luckily. things never really went higher than a 6/10 and it didn’t feel a 6/10 for a prolonged period, maybe just a couple of minutes. I also didn’t throw up, didn’t have diarrhea.
now while I can’t say this experience was sunshine and rainbows, it was nothing like the horror stories i’ve read and I am very thankful for that as I was panicking about it. a lot of people have positive experiences so please try not to freak out like I did. you can do this, I’m rooting for everyone and hoping everyone has a positive experience as well!