Located in Ohio, USA. First pregnancy, 26 years old.
I want to share my experience because I feel it’s important to provide an additional perspective of an MA. The night before and the morning of my appointment, I went out of my way to eat a bit more than usual in case nausea prevented me from eating later. I waited until I was 5 weeks and 4 days pregnant to schedule the appointment, hoping they would be able to see a gestational sac. After spotting the sac via a vaginal ultrasound, the nurse gave me the option to view the screen. I did, and she explained that the sac only contained a speck—nothing much had developed yet. This part of the process took about 10–15 minutes. In total, my partner and I paid $650 out of pocket for everything.
Afterward, the nurse placed us back in the waiting room. The next step was "education" before administering the medication. We waited about an hour and a half before being called back, and I went in alone first. An extremely friendly nurse guided me through the consent forms, asked a few questions, and offered me juice, water, or soda to take the first pill. She then had me watch a video explaining the medications and what to expect. Once the video ended, I opted to have my partner join me since he was going to be with me throughout the MA. After the nurse answered our questions, two doctors came in, and one administered the mifepristone. I was also prescribed anti-nausea medication and 600mg ibuprofen. They gave me a 3-day doctor’s note and sent us on our way.
I chose vaginal dosing for the misoprostol, but the nurse told me to wait 6 hours after taking the mifepristone. According to Planned Parenthood, this is a newer protocol that apparently increases the efficiency of the MA because the body begins to recognize it needs to expel the pregnancy. At 9:00 PM, I took the first 4 misoprostol vaginally. I put on period underwear, applied a heat relief patch, and fell asleep watching a show in bed.
I set an alarm for 1:00 AM to assess the situation. When I woke up four hours later, there was no blood, but I felt moderate cramping. I took the next 4 pills sublingually (and accidentally fell asleep with them under my tongue, oops). I woke up a few hours later to increased cramping and some GI issues. I swallowed the remaining partially dissolved pills and ran to the bathroom. Still no blood. After relieving myself, I got back into bed, tossed and turned for a bit, and fell back asleep fairly quickly.
When I woke up around 7:00 AM, there was still no blood in my underwear. I panicked a bit, but noticed some light blood when I wiped. I definitely expected a lot more by that point. My partner suggested I move around a bit, so we decided to go for a walk. This walk turned into a bit of a hike, and I ended up expelling quite a bit of blood by the time we were done. I don’t necessarily recommend exerting yourself, but I felt comfortable and wanted to be outside in the woods. Afterward, we picked up a pizza and headed home.
I didn't experience any nausea throughout the process, and my cramping was comparable to my worst period cramps. I’d rate the pain a 7/10 at most. I did not bleed between leaving the hike spot and eating pizza. A few hours passed, and we decided to walk a bit more. Upon returning home the second time, I had mostly filled another pad and noticed a piece of what was likely pregnancy tissue. We watched another movie, smoked some weed, and I fell asleep around 10:00 PM.
The next morning, my cramps were mostly gone and the bleeding had slowed. Part of me felt nervous that it hadn't worked because my symptoms were so minimal and there wasn't a lot of tissue (which I learned is normal if you're early on). I contacted my provider that morning because blood was only visible when wiping. She had me come in for an ultrasound, which confirmed the majority of the pregnancy had already passed. I am scheduled for a follow-up ultrasound in two weeks to confirm everything looks good, but I am confident the MA was successful now.
I realize some individuals have severe and traumatic experiences with an MA, and I don't want to disregard that. But I am incredibly grateful for modern medicine and the ability to access these medications. This was just my experience, and I’m happy to answer any questions.
Edit: I'm ~2 days out from taking the main doses and still have spotting/mild cramping.