i kept bleeding for 11 days after. it's completely normal i was informed that the bleeding could continue for up to 3 weeks after. my bleeding wasnt to heavy after either, but there was still a lot of the same stringy clots that you have- your uterus is completely emptying everything, so it's like a long-lasting period. its normal- dont panic!
o and just to let you know your period will probably not return for a while- i was told it could take up to 3 months to have another period- and mine returned in about six or seven weeks after taking all the pills. and it's probably going to last a lot longer too.
and just one other note from my experience- if you want to go on birth control, when you go in for your follow-up appointment you can start taking pills, or have an iud put in, or get the shot, or anything else you might want- but thats the best time to start it.
good luck! let me know if you have any other questions! i hoped this helped you.

I kept bleeding for 3weeks, so dont worry after only 4 days, its totaly normal hun, just like veggiegurl said.
Again there was alot of the stringy clots that you have.
I had the same cramping as well, it did go away after about a week though, so no panic.

ya just continue to wear pads(don't wear tampons!) until the bleeding stops- like i said it's normal to bleed for up to 3 weeks. don't worry!

you know what, thank both of you SO MUCH!!!!




i wasnt expecting to get feedback and this makes me SO much more comfortable! the cramps have gone away and its just the stringy clots which makes sense in the uterus still emptying.
its nice to be able to relate to people on this subject and not have to to go your friends who you dont exactly want to tell. i just wish it wouldnt be this complicated to have to post something and wait. they should really make a website like this, like a forum or a posting site where women can chat back and forth on their experiences cuz it seriously eases the nerves and allows me to be happy in my day without this horrible worry in the back of my head!


did you guys ever in your process feel like maybe it hadnt done its job and aborted. like i still feel iffy about foods and my eating has not gone back to normal cuz i feel sick sometimes or i just feel dizzy in the day randomly. it could entirely be because im not eating healthy...i want to go back to normal and not be disgusted by some food...literally nothing sounds good, but thats sometimes normal for me.

also from this experience of not eating, my stomach has COMPLETELY shrunk which i guess is kinda cool cuz i get full faster, haha idk why i added that, i just thought it was kinda funny.

ya i was sooo scared all the way up until my follow-up appointment that maybe it hadn't worked, but everything turned out fine, and i aksed the clinician doing the ultra-sound if she had ever heard of it not working- and she said its very rare and shes never actually seen it in her ten years of work. theres nothing to worry about! i felt the same way- its completely normal to worry about it but theres really no reason
and i felt the same way about foods- while i was pregnant i found almost every food to be disgusting- i didn't want to eat anything! and it wasn't until about two weeks after taking the pill that my appetite returned- everything returns to normal after about two weeks once your body completely rids itself of the pregnancy hormones.
o and i felt like my stomach did that too!! i would get full soo quickly!! and also something else weird i experienced lol is that when i was pregnant that little pooch of fat that almost every girl has on stomach completely tightened up and disappeared lol its cause our bodies use that extra fat storage for pregnancy haha just a little random fact lol
and im glad we could help- when i went through the same thing, i didn't want any of my friends to know, the only people i could talk to were my fiance and his mom(she went through it before, so it really helped me to have her there), so i just want to be able to reach out to girls going through the same thing, cause i know how hard and scary it can be when you dont know whats going to happen or whats supposed to happen

thank you! and the birth control thing, i really dont want to go on the pill, i really dont ever want to have sex again. you know what sucks...the sex wasnt even good : / and i told my boyfriend that we should stop because i didnt want to get pregnant, on top of getting pregnant and not even feeling anything from it. it was thee most painful thins i have EVER felt, even more than the past weekend with the abortion. i just feel so stupid for letting this happen. i still dont know how it feels to really really have sex to where it feels good and its frustrating cuz i just wont let myself do it anymore. im top young to be having sex as it is, i already have so much responsibility. idk what im babbling about anymore. i guess im just kinda upset cuz i still have no idea how an orgasm from sex feels but i know exactly how it feels to have a medical abortion...how is that possible. IT SUCKS

well i didn't go on the pill- it wasnt right for me. but there are lots of other kinds of birth control out there, i got an IUD (intrauterine device), it justs a tiny little t-shaped thing that prevents pregnancy- i got the copper one(paragard) it doesnt have any hormones- and thats really important to me, and with the iud you dont have to remember to take anything like the pill, its in place all the time and its good for up to ten years(safely removable at any time). so it might be a good option for you too- just think about birth control a little more cause i know i could never go through getting pregnant again. so i got birth control as soon as i could
and im sorry your sex life has been pretty horrible so far- definitely wait before you have sex again if you feel like you're too young-- we always learn from our mistakes, there is no reason to regret any of it
and trust me i know what you mean by feeling like you have too much responsible as is- i'm in college and i got pregnant right before finals, and my fiance had just got laid off from his job, my car was stolen, and so on and so on, it was the most stressful time of my life.
and dont worry about babbling- i would ramble on and on after it happened to me- i felt pretty lousy, but it does get better.
if you want to send me a private message so you can babble on and on to someone lol- im here to listen

i would like to take you up on that private message but im not exactly sure on how to do that.

lol ok yeah idk the whole birth control thing, idk i just dont want to, mainly because it would just give me an excuse to have sex and my boyfriend would be even more all over me and i just dont want that, specially since it hasnt been good so far. and having something inside of me like that, eeep the thought of it just scares me. im one of those people who over think things and worries like crazy to the point where i can throw up my food from it. nerves can get to me if its something thats really bothering me, and having something like that inside of me...i dont think i could. im thinking once im a year or so older and hopefully moved in with my boyfriend and more settled in MAYBE THEN id do some sort of birth control cuz i would NOT want to have to remember to take a pill everyday, i barely remembered the anti biotic pills or w/e that im suppost to take the week after the abortion, which just reminded me that i didnt take my last one this morning, which COMPLETELY just proved my point hahaaa so funny. im glad its the last one, ive got too much on my mind and having to take a pill everyday would just remind me of that decision that i made a week or so ago and idk, itd jsut be a constant reminder. for now i just wanna hold hands and THATS IT, haha with an occasional rub around here or there, ew i feel gross for saying that. lol anyway.



yeah about your having all this stuff the week you had the proceedure, gosh getting your car stolen : / i dont know how tht fels but i can imagine how it felt, thankfully it was a pretty calm the week before but my head was not calm WHAT SO EVER. after the first 2 days of it settling in my mind i was able to smile and just put my mind on something else but it was super hard, and i couldnt talk to anyone about it besides my boyfriend and lets face it, hes a boy...need i say more. lol the only thing freaking me out was that i was taking the actual second pill with all the pain the day before fathers day...so i wasnt sure if id even feel good to go anywhere the next day. i did end up going but every single food made me want to up chuck.



its so weird that i can say ive had an abortion, its something i NEVER ever wanted to say. im only 19, i havent even been having sex for a year! only like 5 months and this pops up, it just really sucks, and what makes it worse is that it makes me so hypocritical. i used to be very anti abortion and "if your responsible enough to be having sex then your responsible enough to have a baby" <<
wow. i wrote a lot. sorry. write me back in a private message if you know how. :]

Hi. I'm Jess and I've been reading your posts. Thanks. They really do help a lot. I've had a surgical abortion. I'm going to get the pills for an abortion on Wednesday. I'm a little afraid. Exactly how much did it hurt. If anyone reading this can compare the two for me, that would be terrific! I just received the call from the doc at home. He described the medical proceedure...I'm not sure if it might be worse than the aspiration proceedure. Thanks, again for your help.

hey jess- well ive only ever done the pill--- and the pain can vary from person to person- my friend did it too and she described her cramps as very very mild-- no worse than a period. and well honestly, with me, when i did it, it was the worst cramps and worst pain i had ever felt, BUT it lasted for jsut a few hours, and if i had to chose again which type i'd go with, id still pick the medical one over the surgical abortion-
it just felt more natural- almost like you're having a miscarriage, and you can be in the privacy of your home
my fiance's mom had a surgical abortion a while back- and she said she would never chose that option again- she woke up from it and started screaming- she felt it was extremely invasive, and made it mroe difficult for her to recover emotionally.
so like i said before- id go with the medical
the pain might be bad for you but the bad cramps don't last for than two hours.
good luck! hopefully this helped

omg!!! sarbear! i'm only 19 too and i wasnt even having sex for a year either, only 10 months. i was totally not expecting it... wow i just found that crazy that we both were in really really similar situations.
o and to send a private message- up at the very top of the page, where it says 'home, profile, inbox, logout,' click on inbox-- i just sent you a message--
and then to be notified of recieving private messages, you can click on 'my profile' and then click on settings.

jess, like veggiegirl said, the medical abortion varies between all women, unlike hers, mine wasnt bad AT ALL the pain was extremely mild and im not even used to cramps because i rarely ever have any on my period. you said you were doing it on wednesday, which is today. i hope all went well, let us know

Hi, just came upon this forum. I'm glad you are having conversations back and forth here because trust me - we need it. I just found out this past tuesday that I'm pregnant, and while were both in shock - (me and my boyfriend)I know I dont want it. I just dont want a child. He dosen't either, btu he's ok with whatever decision that I make. My first appointment wont be 'till tuesday the 10th, so i guess that's they day they're gonna give me my first pill. They said they're gonna do an ultra sounds and blood tests and all that fun stuff ... 48 hours later I'm supposed to take the next pill. I hope i dont sound evil, but I CAN'T WAIT. i wished I had even got an earlier date cus I really dont want this thing growing inside me.

At least I know a little of what to expect after the second pill just by your posts, but i dont know what's to happen the first day. I too am a little nervous for fear there are complications, but I just hope not.

dontwantit.... i know exactly how you feel, the whole "get this thing out of me" i think thats how a lot of girls feel. you just wanna go back to normal and not feel weird. idk bout you but before i went in to take the first pill i was only 5 weeks and it was crazy cuz the pregnancy side effects that pregnant women alweays mention like being able to smell EVERYTHING and morning sickness, i totally had it all. like morning sickness may have just been from my worry sooo much about it but being able to smell everything, it was crazy but again, a constant reminder of what was growing inside of me and i so badly just wanted it to be gone. but you have to be patient. i had a whole week before iw ent back and took the pill and trust me its hell, specially if you can only talk to one person about it, being your bf, who, ive found they dont really know how cramps feel or how really any of this feels so its hard to try and go vent to him or talk to him about it cuz its just like a blank wall, lol atleast thats how i felt. its good that you went to this site before you went in for it. if i had done this question before and started this question before hand i think i wouldve felt a lot better every morning and not be freaking out every morning like i did. after the first couple days of it settling in your brain, its easier to think about other things, and once you take the pills and its in the process, yes its semi painful varying from girl to girl, but the relief, i felt, already started. heck even the morning of me taking the pill at home, i was told to take it at 9:30, and of course i was awake at 6 just waaaiting for the time to come and get the process going. so dont feel bad, or "evil" for being anxious. id say its normal.

okay the going in and getting the ultra sound, just to prepare you, your prolly thining of the ultra sound on your tummy and things you see in the movies...sadly not so much, atleast not for me,a nd id guess its for everyone. i sat in the chair awaiting the doctor to come in and its like they ALWAYS take forever to come in because your already nervous which just seems to add time, lol anyway, i sat down and looked over to see this long stickish thing, that was semi rounded at the end...that, unfortuneatly, it was they use to do the ultra sound...i felt violated. lol i guess because ive only been with one guy in my life and having some doctor go in there with some cold tool and lube in it, : / eh not my idea of comfort, but its not too bad, dont let me scare you at all, seriously, it doesnt hurt, its feels a little odd and as if a small penis is being inserted into you, bahahaa, but i jsut thought id give you a heads up and know that when they tell you to have off your clothes from the waist down, they DO mean your underwear also...something i had to learn the embarrassing way. hahahaa.

and as far as complications. i was feeling it too, mainly because my pain wasnt nearly as bad as they said it could have been, but im sure all will go well. you will still feel groggy and light headed and sick the week after and i found that all of that went away for me in the second week, which btw will be tomorrow, so im still fresh to all of this too! but this week, ive felt great, still bleeding a small amount...enough to make me mad that im still bleeding, but not enough to scare me. you will still bleed after so dont get scared and freak yourself out, unless its like A LOT then you should give the place a call.

That was the worst part for me! I woke up the day before I even missed my period and could smell my boyfriend's chocolate Slimfast all the way from the kitchen to my bedroom!!! The chocolate smell actually woke me up. Then when he opened the closet in the living room, I caught a whiff of his leather jacket. ( I was still in bed) So weird! I, too, could not wait for "it" to be out of me. To me it was like a parasite that was making me feel horrible and using my womb against my wishes. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who felt the same way.

:] lucy, yeah it is nice to feel normal for having those thoughts, and the being able to smell everything was crazy wasnt it. like i almost felt like i had a super power. lol. so glad its gone though.

dontwantit- ill go over everything that happens before the taking the four pills at home, since we have talked a lot about what happens after.

so when you go in to take the mifepristone, after signing a ton of papers and answering awkward questions lol, they will take your vitals first- blood pressure and a finger prick to check your blood type and iron levels.

you will have an ultrasonud done, and sarbear is right- its a vaginal ultrasound (when the pregnancy is this early, they can only do a vaginal ultrasound)
then youll probably have to wait some more like i did-- this part was the worst for me, i waited about an hour and it felt like 5 hours!

then they will 'educate' you on all the pills you will take home with you-- you will probably be given a bag with three bottles of pills in it, misoprostol, promethazine, and antiobiotics (if you ask for birth control pills, they will give you your first month to take with you too)

then the clinician will hand you the mifepristone and will watch you take it. (what the mifepristone does is it stops your body from producing pregnancy hormones, so the fetal tissue will stop growing and then detatches from the uterus- so its still inside of you but its loose tissue) this pill wont make you cramp or bleed

then you can go home after this, and the rest of the day will be normal- you dont have to stay home that day either

then one hour before you plan to take the misoprostol (also known as cytotec) you should take the promethazine- it helps with nausea (while i was pregnant, i had really bad nausea, so they told me to start taking promethazine the night before)

then either 24 or 48 hours after the mifeprestone, you will take the four cytotec(misoprostol) you might be informed to put two in each cheek and wait about 30 minutes for them to dissolve and then swallow the rest or your clinic may want you to insert them vaginally(i took them orally, two in each cheek- so i cant answer too many questions about this method) and what the misoprostol does is it dilates your cervix (this causes the cramps) and allows the loose tissue to expell from your body

make sure you are wearing pads and that you take tylenol right after the cytotec(misoprostol)
then this is the part where everyone will vary-- for me, exactly one hour after taking the cytotec, i threw up (not everyone gets nauseous from it though). and then i had the worst cramps i had ever experienced (and i have pretty bad period cramps but this worse) but the cramps are different for everyone. the intense cramps lasted for about 6 hours

bleeding started slightly after the cramps but was pretty light, about the same as a period for me, just with more stringy goopy clots- but bleeding can also vary for everyone. and you wont be able to see the actual egg and fetal tissue (its so small and theres no distinction between the blood clots and actual fetal tissue) the size of blood clots can also vary. but mine were small.

and if you cramps are as bad as mine were- this is what i did to try and just relax and forget about the pain. i just laid in bed with my knees bent up (it helped take some pressure off my pelvix bone and helped relieve some cramps) and just drink lots of liquids, plenty of water and also drink something you actually like, cause the familiarity will help you relax (i love yellow gatorade, so i drank at least half a gallon haha) and background noise helps me to sleep, so i had the tv on very low volume, and i just shut my eyes and tried to sleep with my knees bent. i fell asleep after about four hours of really bad cramps. then when i woke up and the cramps started to go away, i really didnt want to eat but my boyfriend (now fiance yay!!) tried to get me to eat so he gave me foods taht i actually like (once again, itll help you relax by eating what you enjoy) so i ate a couple bowls of raspberry orange and lime sherbert for dinner that night lol
the cramping was gone after the first day from taking the cytotec

the bleeding can continue for up to three weeks like we said before- mine lasted for ten or eleven days

just continue to wear pads and remember to take the antibiotics regularly until you run out.
hopefully this whole step by step helps someone out

wow this is a really long message...

o and lucy and sarbear! i went through the whole smelling everything too! i was terrbile! i knew just how you guys felt- that feeling of just wanting to be normal again. i also got into a really bad sleep pattern while i was pregnant- i would wake up every morning at 3:15- like clock work. and this every single morning from the day after i got pregnant up until taking the first pill- and this no sleep thing was going on while i had finals!! it was terrible. and i would throw up almost every morning and i couldnt stand food anymore. i just wanted to be my normal self again!

I am taking the second set of pills tomorrow, and I am really scared of infection. The pills will be inserted vaginally and the doc gave me no antibiotics. It seems like a recipe for disaster. Maybe I am over-paranoid. I hope so.