Your follow up appointment is extremely important, as we want to ensure that you have had the best medical care and attention that we can provide. Your follow up visit, which consists of a pelvic exam and urine test, will be scheduled approximately 2 weeks following your abortion procedure. Your appointment date and time will be written on your recovery instructions, along with our contact information.

Follow these instructions very carefully:

(1) Take your temperature morning and evening for the first 7 days following the abortion to be sure it remains lower than 100.4. Call us if you have a temperature that is higher than 100.4.

(2) Avoid strenuous exercise such as jogging, aerobics and other cardiovascular workouts until your follow-up visit.

(3) Avoid placing anything inside your vagina until after your follow up. Anything placed inside your vagina could increase your risk of infection. Do not use tampons, bathe in a tub, swim, douche, or have sexual intercourse. It is possible to become pregnant again immediately following your procedure.

(4) Monitor your bleeding (or spotting) which may occur for up to 6 weeks or you may have no bleeding at all. You may have brownish-yellow discharge or none at all. If your normal period does not return within 6 weeks following the abortion, contact us during normal office hours to be checked. Call if you have heavy bleeding (saturating more than one full size pad per hour for 2 hours or more). Please give us the most accurate amount of your bleeding or clots by counting the number of full-size pads you have fully soaked or the size and number of any clots in the last 2 hours.

(5) Be aware that increased cramping may occur 3-6 days after the procedure. We will send you home with a prescription for medication to ease your cramping. You may also take Ibuprofen or Aleve in addition to the prescription pain medication you receive. Please DO NOT TAKE ASPIRIN as it will increase your bleeding. Call if you experience very severe cramping persisting more than an hour after taking the pain medication.

(6) Keep your scheduled follow up appointment. Please call the office if you need to reschedule. We provide post abortion visits to ensure your uterus has returned to a pre-pregnancy size, your cervix has closed and healed and to release you from restricted activity. There is no additional charge for this follow up appointment if you come within 30 days.