My medical abortion experience

I found out I was pregnant last Wednesday. I'm 20, and my boyfriend and I are in school, so there's no way we could afford to take care of a baby. I didn't want to ever be in this situation, but I still live at home with my parents, and there was no way I could burden them with any of this. I decided to do the pill because I felt like I would be able to deal with that easier. We made an appointment for a local clinic for this past Tuesday. Meanwhile, I came on here and read experiences about the pill, which scared me to death.

I went to the clinic and had to show up at 7:30 in the morning. They told me I would be done by 11. There was already a huge line at the door to get in, and probably at least 20 women waiting to get abortions. I feel like the process would have been much faster if they would have been more efficient, and I just felt like a number at the clinic. I probably had 30 minutes face-time with any nurses or doctors, and the rest of the time was spent being herded to various waiting areas. I actually didn't get out of there until 12. I found out I was 6 to 7 weeks, given the first pill, given an envelope with the second round of pills and some instructions, and quickly left.

The first day, I experienced a lot of nausea and cramping whenever I ate. I'm not sure if this is because of the pregnancy or not. I also had a lot of cramping on Wednesday as well. I woke up Thursday feeling fine, however, but wasn't able to do the final round of pills until that night since I would be in school all day. I planned to insert the pills around 10, right before I went to bed, but I actually started spotting around 6 p.m. and heavily bleeding at 9. I took some extra strength Tylenol (they didn't provide any pain medication) before I inserted the pills vaginally and took some pepto tablets just in case I felt nauseous.

I didn't really feel anything until around probably 11:30. I had some bad cramping, but I got up, went to the bathroom and passed some clots, including a light pink lump that I assumed was the sac. I felt better and went to the bathroom a few more times and decided to try to sleep. I slept until 1 a.m., when I woke up and the cramps were worse. I went to the bathroom a few more times, changed my pad, took more Tylenol, and turned my heating pad back on. I went back to sleep before 2. I didn't wake up until 6 a.m., feeling fine. I should have gotten up to change my pad, but instead went back to sleep. I woke up at 7:30, finding I had gotten blood on my sheets (I had kicked my towels off in my sleep). I passed a few more clots when I went to the bathroom, changed my pad and underwear (I'm only on my third one through the night), and honestly now I feel fine, if not a little tired. The bleeding is still pretty heavy, but I'm considering going to class this morning. I'm actually really hungry too for the first time in a long time.

I just wanted to share my experience because a lot of the threads on here scared me. At no point were my cramps unbearable. They were worse than what I get for my regular period and had an edge to them, but I feel like that wouldn't have bothered me if I had taken stronger painkillers. My only concern is that the clinic I went to did not provide me with any antibiotics, so I'm worried about infection. I'm glad I went this route because I could be home where I could prepare for it and be in my own bed. I feel much better about all of this now compared to how I felt after the clinic. I have to go back there in three weeks, which I dread, but it will all be behind me soon, I hope.