QuestionQUESTION: dear Jean,
first of all my blood type is A negative and i was extremely sick due to a reaction my body was having to the zygote/embryo. I had sever motion sickness all the time, and even brushing my teeth caused me to throw up. Also i was taking birth control because i had just gotten a pap a month before i found out i was pregnant and the test i took at the clinic showed negative on pregnancy. i had a surgical abortion on sept. 21 of this year. after the proceeder i bled for the first hour. i have not bled since. i am on Yasmin birth control and under the advice of the nurse at the clinic i began taking the pill the night after the procedure. i took it regularly and expected to have a period during the sugar pill portion of the pill. i did not, but i did have terrible cramps that made it necessary for me to take the 600 milligram ibuprofen i had been prescribed for the abortion procedure. i waited for 3 weeks to start taking the pill again in hopes of getting a period. i then took the pills again regularly after the 3 weeks. the second time i was on the sugar pills the cramps were so bad i had to stay in bed for 3 days until i gave up and started taking the pill a day early, which put an end to my cramps. i am studying in Egypt right now- i flew to barcelona to have the procedure done. i think it might just be my body trying to get back on track but it still worries me. any suggestions?
ANSWER: First: your blood type had nothing to do with your sickness in the first few weeks of pregnancy. This is known as morning sickness, and despite the name the sickness can occur at any time. A significant percentage of pregnant women experience severe "morning" sickness, and the symptoms you describe are perfectly normal under the circumstances.
Second: Why did you have a surgical abortion if the pregnancy test at the clinic showed that you were not pregnant? Are you sure you went to a reputable physician? Did you have any referrals when you went to this doctor in a new country?
In any case, assuming you WERE pregnant, and you had a surgical abortion on 21 September, it is normal not to have a period until now. Most women (80%) ovulate between 3-6 weeks after an abortion, but some women can ovulate as late as 10 weeks after an abortion. You should have your period two weeks after ovulation, so if you have not had your period by 15th December, you should see a doctor. It may be nothing to worry about, delayed or missed periods are very common in the first few months after an abortion. Your menstrual cycle will take at least 3-4 months to settle into a regular rhythm again. Stress could also cause you to miss periods. So try not to worry even if you have to see a doctor after 15th Dec.
Other symptoms you describe, like cramps, are also normal. They are caused by the leftover pregnancy hormones in your body. These hormones may take up to 6 months to completely clear out, and in the meantime you may experience some strange pregnancy-like symptoms like nausea, breast tenderness, frequent urination, food cravings etc. These should go away soon.
If your problems persist and the cramps get really bad, you do need to see a doctor. There is a slight chance that there was an infection as a result of the abortion, but this is unlikely if you did not have a fever immediately following the abortion. But go to a doctor if you're worried, just to be on the safe side.
I am not a medical professional, and my opinions should not be treated as medical advice.
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QUESTION: i really dont know how to take this.. assuming i was pregnant? i am sorry but that really puts me on the defensive. yes i was, i was told i was 7 weeks when i found out which means i was about 3 weeks when i was at planned parenthood getting my pap. i had a blood test done after my initial home pregnancy test and then had an ultra sound performed to determine how far along i was. then when i got to barcelona a week later those doctors believed me to be 10 weeks along, hence the surgical procedure. - i had the symptoms of sickness right up until the abortion. it was not morning sickness, as i am familiar with pregnancy and have helped many of my friends through it. the symptoms lasted day and night and included cramping, sharp pains from my left ovary, throwing up due to motion- i.e. riding in a car, no appetite, no energy, inability to think clearly, i felt like i was floating under water the whole time- that is not morning sickness. sorry for not being as clear before about the extreme nature of my sickness. The clinic had many referrals, and they were great, it is just expensive to call barcelona repeatedly so i thought i would ask online. As far as my being able to get referrals from a physician here- no- i am in egypt where abortion is illegal.
AnswerI didn't mean to offend you, I was simply confused by the wording of your question. You said:
"the test i took at the clinic showed negative on pregnancy. i had a surgical abortion on sept. 21 of this year."
This led me to think that somehow, even though the pregnancy test at the clinic was negative, you were given an abortion. It didn't make sense to me, so I assumed there was a miscommunication and that you WERE pregnant by the time you had an abortion.
If your cramping now gets worse or you are still worried about it, go to a doctor in Egypt itself, and tell him that you had a miscarriage. It might be better to go to a friendly doctor, someone your friends can recommend, so that you don't get into trouble for anything. I am not familiar with the laws in Egypt, but usually you can be safe saying it was a miscarriage. There is no way for the physician to know now that you had an abortion.
Now, regarding your motion sickness, I am sorry to contradict you again, but it is definitely impossible to be "allergic" to your baby or embryo in that way. Embryos and fetuses do not make people sick. Many people have children whose blood type is different from their babies, it is not an uncommon occurrence. It is also not uncommon for Rh negative women to have Rh positive babies. There is simply no way this can cause the problem that you describe.
The only thing that happens when an Rh- mother gives birth to an Rh+ baby (or + gives birth to -) is that in the LATE stages of pregnancy (7 months or later), some fetal blood mixes with the mother's blood, and causes the mother's blood to become "sensitised". This has no physical effects for the mother. The mother's adult blood then produces antibodies to the fetus's blood, and the fetus therefore might need a blood transfusion immediately after being born. This is the only effect of blood sensitisation, and it only happens in the fetus, not the mother.
Morning sickness is very different for different people, and even from pregnancy to pregnancy in the same person. What you had, in fact, sounds a lot like my first pregnancy which I ended with an abortion. On 3-4 days of every week, I was so exhausted even immediately after waking up that my husband had to pull me out of bed and help me walk to the bathroom. I did not want to eat or drink anything all day, except rarely sometimes in the afternoons, and I threw up 4-5 times every day. If I ever sat in a car or a bus, I took plastic bags along with me, because I was sure to throw up every 15-20 minutes. It was terrible. All that vomiting, all that constant nausea - it caused me to lose a lot of strength and I looked very grey most of the time. After 2-3 weeks of this when I went to my doctor, she immediately put me in a hospital to give me a glucose drip. She said I was very severely dehydrated.
The cramping and pain in the ovary did not happen to me, but it happens to a lot of people I have heard of. It is simply another symptom of early pregnancy.
In any case, it doesn't matter now. As long as you're feeling better, everything is good! :)
So take care, and let me know if you have more questions.
