I know how many of you women feel right now. You're nervous, frightened, and don't know what to do, so you're scouring the internet for information. That's exactly how I was. I wanted to post my full experience with Plan B because I read a post very similar to this that soothed me. I hope this extensive description of my experience may offer you some comfort, too.
My boyfriend and I had unprotected sex at 12:30 am on March 20th (technically Friday morning). We had a condom, but somehow it came off. Despite him pulling out, it was unclear whether or not he ejaculated inside of me or not. I immediately realized that the condom had somehow come off and I ran into the bathroom, my heart racing. He tried to follow me in but I shut the door. After gathering myself together, he and I decided we needed to go purchase Plan B. Although I had no idea how Plan B worked, I knew a friend who had used it a few years prior, and it was the only option I could think of in the moment.
Thoroughly shaken and terrified, we set out in search for Plan B. No drugstore or available retailer was open at 1:30 am. With no other options left, we decided to get up early the next morning and go purchase it.
I spent that night and many other nights following it with a pit in my stomach, wondering if there could be a baby inside of it. I am still a student and not ready to be a parent. As my life flashed before my eyes, I could not imagine myself being a mother so soon. I wasn't ready.
At 6 am the next morning (5.5 hours after we had unprotected sex), my boyfriend and I purchased Plan B and I took it. I took the one pill dosage at one time with food.
As the day went on, I experienced intense nausea, fatigue, dizziness, and faintness. I am young and slim, only 5'2" and about 110 lbs. I have never taken any sort of hormone before, let alone an extremely large dose such as Plan B. I felt so ill I left school and work early. I was very weak and needed to lay down for the remainder of the day.
At this point, I had scoured the internet with a fine-toothed comb to learn everything I could about my situation. I read other account of women who had taken Plan B and it had worked. I read case studies from Princeton, analyzing the raw data and comparing it to my own situation. I saw relief stories and horror stories, and none of it comforted me. Although my boyfriend was very supportive, I still felt very, very alone and frightened.
On the night of the incident, I was ovulating. I did not know at the time I was ovulating or even exactly how that played into pregnancy. My last period was March 4th-10th, so the 20th was precisely while I was ovulating. As soon as I read that Plan B does not work on women who are ovulating and that I had a 9% or more chance of being pregnant because I was ovulating, I broke into tears.
Before intercourse, I was experiencing the ovulation discharge as normal. About a day after taking Plan B, the discharge paused for about 24 hours before resuming as normal. This assured me that Plan B did indeed delay my ovulation, but I was greatly concerned about its effect. I was still ovulating during the time window when sperm stays alive in the body. I had no idea if Plan B would still work.
Days passed and with each day came more and more anxiety. The discharge stopped 4 days after taking Plan B, leaving me in limbo. My next scheduled period was April 1st. I had roughly 11 days to wait before I would know if I was pregnant.
I felt nauseous on the 4th or so morning after taking Plan B. I was petrified it was morning sickness. I wasn't my usual self at school or at work because my mind was constantly preoccupied with the possibility of being pregnant.
Finally, I felt some cramps on Thursday, March 26th. They were slight, but definitely cramps. I read it could possibly be menstrual cramps or implantation cramps, so of course I felt even worse. It was yet again another sign to wait for my period.
Saturday I experienced some spotting, of which I never receive in my regular cycle. Ecstatic that my period had come, I put in tampons, only to realize that no more blood was being expelled. Again, spotting seems to be an early sign of pregnancy, so for a third time I was held suspended, not having any firm evidence as to whether or not I was pregnant.
Finally, today, March 29th, my period arrived, fully-fledged and earlier than expected. I read studies online that suggested that women who take Plan B during ovulation get their period a few days before expected, and that's exactly what happened to me. It started as more frequent spotting, and finally there was enough blood being expelled to use a tampon.
I completely understand the mixed emotions many of you are feeling after having unprotected sex, especially if you were ovulating like I was. I would highly recommend taking Plan B. I'm not sure if it diverted my pregnancy or not, but doing something definitely eased my concern slightly.
To all you women going through what I just went through: take a deep breath. It will be ok. The worst part is waiting. It consumes every thought of each day. But take it one day at a time, read these posts, and be comforted. Plan B works. It worked for me. It has an 80-90% success rate. You can be one of those women. Take it early and be patient. Lesson learned for me--no unprotected sex until I am ready for the responsibility of a child!
We women have to look out for one another. I am glad I shared my story with all of you. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to comment.
Be calm. Be patient. It will come.