QuestionI made a huge mistake. I always planned to have a big family and have five beautiful children. I had twins two years ago, and although everything is fine now it was a very difficult journey. THe pregnancy was very hard on me and the first year was also very difficult...hospitilizations, etc, also having to take care of my three older children (6 year old, 5 year old and two year old)while all this was going on. I had just started to feel somewhat in control of my life again. Then a few weeks ago I unexpectedly became pregnant. I panicked. I have never been the type to consider abortion, but I panicked. Twins run in my family, and I have other potential risk factors for having twins. I could not handle the idea of having twins again, not at all. It is just my husband and I, he works a lot and we have no extended family to help. At four weeks, three days past my last menstrual period, I (after researching online) decided to attempt to take mega doses of vitamin c to terminate the pregnancy. I did this for about 28 hours total, ingesting about 20 grams (20,000 mg) of vitamin c in this time frame. Before starting this I was having very clear pregnancy symptoms, as well as a positive test. A day and a half into it, I had a major change of heart and decided I want to keep my baby, and major regret over what I had done. Two days later, my pregnancy symptoms lessened considerably. I honestly didn't think I was pregnant anymore, but kept getting positive tests. At 6.5 weeks I had an ultrasound and two things were confirmed: 1) baby was measuring a day ahead of schedule with a strong heartbeat, and 2)there were two yolk sacs, meaning the pregnancy began as a twin, but one vanished.
There are many, many thoughts going through my head at this time. Supposedly, the vitamin c (only in extreme doses) works in a similar way to ru486 by interfering with progesterone. Did it work well enough to affect one twin? Or would that have happened anyway? Did it damage the baby? As you can probably imagine, I'm very worried. I desperately want this baby, I feel very bonded to it. But I couldn't live with myself if I deliberately caused it harm. I have read some information online that babies who survive the abortion pill tend to be okay. Do you think the same logic would apply for vitamin c? Do you think the fact that normal growth has occured since the vitamin c is a good sign? If you can offer me any advice, information, reassurance, I will truly appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time. One more thing, I only took vitamin c, no other herbs. Thank you again.
Rhonda
AnswerHello, Rhonda,
It is unlikely the Vitamin C did any harm to your baby. You were too far along to begin with. And there are many other reasons it might not have any effect. It does look like you don't have to worry about your baby. As for the other yolk sac, it seems unlikely that your body would have done something to a second baby without also eliminating the yolk sac. And in my opinion, ultrasound simply cannot be relied upon to determine if there is a yolk sac at that point, because it is too small. I would be willing to bet that the other baby (if that is a second yolk sac) never developed in the first place. That's just my opinion.
The abortion pills are a totally different situation. Occasionally, they do cause birth defects. But the action with them is totally different from what Vitamin C would do.
You would probably benefit from some counseling and possibly a medical checkup of your blood to make sure the minerals are in balance. With just one dose, I wouldn't expect any imbalances, but Vitamin C can affect blood copper and iron. There are organizations that provide this kind of help to women in your position. You can find one near you by going to this web site:
http://www.pregnancycenters.org/
Please keep in touch, and send me a picture when your baby is born. :) Take care.
