AboutPat G Expertise I can help women with the consideration of their decision, and with resources, and I can share my own experiences as the mother of seven and grandmother of six. My approach is to show love and concern, and help women work through the issues, emotional, spiritual, practical. I also help women deal with boyfriend and family issues.
Experience I have been working with women who are considering abortion for several years. I also work with women who have had abortions. Our family has also experienced adoption, so I can talk about that as well.
Education/Credentials I am mostly self-taught. I also studied midwifery for awhile. I have spent years doing research on this topic. In fact, I have been doing research and working in this area since the early 1970's. I have been helping women online for a few years, under the guidance of a woman who was formally training in counseling.
Question QUESTION: Hi umm I really nervous and worried right now,
ok I had an abortion on June 13,2009 and I
had unprotected sex on the June 24,2009
that's about 10 days apart I was bleeding very
lightly by the 24 even though at some point
and time during the day I would bleed a lot.
After the intercourse with my boyfriend the
bleeding completely stopped. I began to bleed
again about 4 days after but barely at all I
guess it's around that time for the bleeding to
stop as far as the abortion goes. Now today is
July 1,2009 and yesterday I began to get
headaches and feel strange , kind of how I felt
when I was pregant and I have small cramps
in my stomach and now the gas has started up
again as before. I have no idea if I could be
pregnant again because my boyfriend pulled
out but, when I felt ( down there) it felt like I
had semen on my vagina could some have
went in or..... Can you still get pregnant from
semen being on your vagina ? I'm really not
thinking about taking a pregnancy test because
after the abortion I was really curious to know
what the results would be , and it was still
positive so I'm afraid if I so take it again that it
will say positive but only be a false positive.
Can you please help me to better understand
my situation please?
Thank you !! ; )
ANSWER: Hi, Diamond,
Well, I'll simply have to clear up a few points. First, if you have semen in your vagina, you can get pregnant (provided you are fertile). And I am glad you knew the sex was unprotected, because too many women think they are having protected sex when they're not. Condoms don't work, and a lot of other methods aren't terribly reliable, either. The only completely reliable method to prevent pregnancy is abstinence.
Headaches and gas are not among the symptoms I would consider indicative of pregnancy. Small cramps could have any number of different causes. Most of the time, it takes awhile for the hormones of pregnancy to return to a non-pregnant state after abortion. Abortion disrupts a woman's hormones rather strongly, so you can't really tell what will happen. You didn't say how far along you were, or what method was used to produce abortion. Small cramps can be due to sexual intercourse, pregnancy, menstrual period, or digestive upset.
Ultimately, you will have to be patient and test, or go see a doctor. Nobody will be able to diagnose pregnancy over the internet, not even a doctor.
Once your body has returned to some semblance of normal, you might want to learn how to tell when you are fertile. You have to chart faithfully, and you can't be using any hormones. For more information, go here:
Please take care of yourself. I'm sure you don't want to have to have another abortion, so it is best to figure out a way to protect yourself better. Talk to your partner. There are other ways to express affection, although any kind of penetration into your body anywhere can lead to nasty diseases. You deserve a man who will cherish and protect you, and not take advantage of you.
Until someone can examine or test you, I can't really help you understand your situation. So please go to someone who can help. Don't go back to the person who provided the abortion. Find someone else. Let me know what you find out.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Yes thanks a lot well I was 10 weeks pregnant and I had what I think is call
the type of procedure where they use some instrument to literally suck out my
insides like the suction thing. My nausea symptoms were still there a few
days after, I still looked at food and nearly threw up. I am just now able to
eat more things than I could when I was pregnant I had lost 6 lbs. Because
my eating habits had changed everything I ate was nasty. I really appreciate
your help, because I have no idea how to go about this from here.
Thanks a million ; ) !!
ANSWER: Hi, Diamond,
You are very welcome. Just follow up on my suggestions, and let me know what happens. If you are able to look at food more, then this may well mean things are as you prefer.
For future reference, there are ways to handle nausea during pregnancy. A good doctor will give you a drug that will help and won't harm the baby, but often there are things you can do yourself that may help. Some women find eating a couple of crackers before they get out of bed is helpful. Some find that eating watermelon helps. And ginger tea can be very helpful. Just sip it. That, or ginger ale with real sugar. Make sure you get enough protein. If you are a vegetarian, you probably aren't getting enough. Vegetarian diets are almost always deficient in some critical hormones. But protein sticks with you and helps keep your blood sugar more normal. And so do apples, by the way. And from what I have read, the nausea is caused in part because the blood sugar isn't normal.
Let me know how you do, and please take care of yourself. Don't take any more risks!
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Yes, my doc told me the same thing because
before the abortion I was goin to my normal
check -ups and when I went I went from 145
lbs to 139lbs because I couldn't eat much.
One question that keeps popping up in my
head is, when can I take another pregnancy
test? To help you to estimate these are the
important dates
Abortion- June 13,2009
Intercourse- june 24,2009
today is july 1,2009
And if there is anything important that you feel
I need to know as far as figuring out for myself
without the help of docs ( symptoms) because
my headaches are everyday and from the
previous answer you said the cramps and
headaches may be due to my cyle I never had
those symptoms ever. If anything, my breast
would get tender which was also a symptom
from my pregnancy.
Thank you again ; ) !!!
Answer Hi again, Diamond,
You can reasonably test for pregnancy in three weeks from the time of intercourse, on the 24th. That will put you at mid-July.
Abortion messes up a woman's system, so anything is possible, including the headaches. But here's a technique you can try. Pinch the bridge of your nose lightly between your thumb and forefinger. If this works, it should relieve the headache immediately, and it may or may not last when you let go, but you can hold it for a couple of minutes. Likewise, there is a depression in the middle between your upper lip and your nostrils. Pinch that in the same way. There is another technique, but I don't remember which way it goes, so you'd have to try it. On your forehead, directly above your eyebrow, place your fingertips very lightly, and rotate the skin in a circular direction. It will move a good sized fraction of an inch. This releases tension. It's been so long since I had a headache that I don't remember which direction to rotate! If you are at all upset about having had an abortion (look deep inside on this one), that could contribute to your headaches, too. Good luck! Let me know if any of this helps. If not, you might want to do some searching on the internet for natural headache remedies.
