I said I would post after I got my abortion and that's what I'm doing now. In response to some of the comments from my last post...

I wasn't really asking for sympathy on my situation or decision, nor was I asking to be judged and be told that I'll never see my baby etc.

I'm nineteen years old and don't even feel like I've completely transitioned into my role as a woman yet and know that I am not ready to have a baby, though I commend those women who have felt it the right decision during their lives at whatever age to have a child.

I went to planned parenthood today to have my abortion. I actually was awake for the procedure but they gave me a motrin before hand to help with some of the pain during and after the procedure.

Before the procedure, the nurse took my vitals, did an ultrasound and pricked my finger to check my hemoglobin level.

There were parts of it that were painful. Definitely. For girls who haven't had an abortion yet and are looking at this forum to see how much it would hurt (as I went and did before I had mine), know that it is a pain and discomfort that you probably haven't felt before since they are literally sticking things inside of you etc. That said, I'm pretty sure that they applied a local anesthetic to ease the pain. Basically, it hurt first when the doctor put his fingers in to find the uterus and then again when he put the spectrobe (I think its called) in. I'm sorry if this is too graphic for some, but I just want to be informative for those who are looking for information on the actual procedure because I found it hard to find before hand.

My ex boyfriend was there, though he didn't approve of the surgical abortion, but I found that his presence was more stressful before the procedure than anything else, perhaps because of my nerves, or our pre-existing problems, as noted in the last post.

Honestly, I cried, because the pain in the beginning had caught me by surprise. After I calmed down though, the rest of the procedure was fine. I guess in all, it probably took somewhere between 5-15 minutes for everything to finish.

Right after the procedure was finished, I felt lightheaded. I consider myself to be a relatively healthy person and do not often feel lightheaded, so the light-headedness took me by surprise, but it wore off after the nurse gave me some juice (to get my blood sugar level back up) and my first Ergonovine pill.

The nurse took my vitals a few times after I waited a half hour and prescribed me Ergonovine pills (take every four hours while awake) to help to close/ heal my uterus again, I think as well as Doxycycline pills (take one at breakfast and one at dinner, each with a full glass of water), which is an antibiotic.

I had a psychology test literally forty five minutes after my procedure and I went and took it and did fine on it. Right now, it is about 10 hours after the completion of the procedure and I have some cramping and some spotting bleeding. I have been taking my pills and have just been taking it easy for the day.

The nurse said that I should expect some minor to moderate bleeding and that I should use pads, not tampons for this period of time directly after the procedure as well as for my first period after this bought of bleeding stops. She said no sex, no douching, and no baths.

Okay.

I think I covered basically a step by step description of what you could expect when you go into a surgical abortion.

I know that not everyone agrees with my decision, but I hope that for those of you who are looking for more information about it/ are scared or worried about it, that I've helped put your mind at ease at least a little bit.

I will be going in for my follow up check up in two weeks and if I feel like it would help someone to know what happens there, I'll post something then as well.

Oh yes.

I covered everything physically, but touched very little on the my emotional take on it. I was honestly very determined to have this abortion the minute that I found out that I was pregnant. Having a baby just wasn't an option and it is not even something that I can imagine as a blessing during this chapter of my life. I was very resolute about my decision, yet I still have some doubts and questions as to whether I would go through with it.

I would say to make the decision for yourself. Take an honest look at your life and decide if having a baby is the right thing for YOU right now. If it isn't, I would suggest that you ignore the standards set by society or the judgmental eyes of some people. Because in the end, it is YOU who will deal with the aftermath of the decision, be it a baby, or guilt/relief after you abort.

I cried after my abortion, just to get it out, but I do not regret my decision.

Alright.



I really feel like I've gotten everything out there now.

Sorry for the length of this post, but I hope that someone, somewhere, sometime gets some information that they were looking for from this.

Thanks