I'm writing this review in mid-June 2022, two months after going through a nightmare that I'll never forget. I'll publish it when I can finally tell you that we've become proud parents of a beautiful baby or babies, and all our struggles are behind us.

We'd been planning a baby for a long time, and before this, we'd already faced an ectopic pregnancy, a miscarriage, and then the coveted two lines on the test. Happiness has no limits, but the fear of loss had already taken up residence in us by then.

When I started bleeding, I was rushed to the hospital, where I was given IV tranexamic acid and a progesterone prescription. I spent a bit over a month on bed rest, during which I bled a few more times, but I was discharged with good health, and the most important thing was that the baby's heartbeat was detectable on the ultrasound.

Next came the registration at the local prenatal clinic, where the doctor ordered an ultrasound scan for my next appointment. That's when my world came crashing down – our long-awaited baby had stopped developing, and the pregnancy had stalled. I found out about it at around 8-9 weeks. Since it was too late for a medical abortion, the only option left was a vacuum aspiration.

The doctor gave me a referral for a planned hospitalization, and I had to take a COVID test before heading home. The procedure was scheduled for our wedding anniversary, which made my situation even more unbearable.

On the appointed day, I arrived at the clinic, filled out all the necessary forms, and went to the gynecology department. My doctor conducted a questionnaire and I submitted some blood tests. I don't remember the exact list, but I'm pretty sure it included a general blood test, blood type, and more. They started preparing me for the procedure, and in the procedure room, I was given an antibiotic injection. After the injection, the doctor invited me in and said that they couldn't take me for a scheduled operation due to elevated eosinophils, and that I might experience anaphylactic shock during anesthesia. They sent me to see a therapist, an infectious disease specialist, and an allergist.

All three doctors told me to get the procedure done and save my life, rather than running around getting tests done. It took me a few days to get the test results from the infectious disease specialist, as I needed to submit a stool sample for parasites, and without that test result, none of the other doctors would sign off on my health clearance. I tried to find out if the local health department could take me in for the procedure, but they refused, saying they only send women with stalled pregnancies to the clinic.

By the way, they canceled my progesterone prescription, and it was only a matter of time before a spontaneous miscarriage occurred. The next day, I started bleeding again and rushed to the emergency room at the polyclinic. The doctor took one look at me and sent me back to the clinic, which is over 70 kilometers away. I called a taxi and went there myself, as I wasn't about to wait.

But my suffering wasn't over yet. The clinic wouldn't take me in with bleeding, so they sent me to the obstetrics and gynecology hospital by ambulance. There, I'd already submitted a COVID test, an HIV test, a syphilis test, a general blood test, a blood type test, an ECG, a vaginal swab, and a repeat ultrasound.

With two other women waiting for the procedure in front of me, I was getting pretty nervous. The anesthesiologist asked me a few standard questions about my food and water intake, and how I'd handled anesthesia in the past.

I went through the whole procedure on a regular gynecological chair, and they inserted a catheter into my vein. I fell asleep, but the emptiness inside was overwhelming. When I woke up a few hours later in the hospital room with severe pain in my lower abdomen, I knew something was wrong. The pain was way worse than what I experience during my period. There was a doctor on duty who asked about the nature of the pain, and after she gave the okay, the nurse gave me a painkiller injection so I could sleep some more. But I couldn't sleep anymore. I'm not going to go into details about how I felt psychologically, but I'm sure those who have gone through this understand me. And as for those who don't, I hope you never have to go through it.

As you can understand, I didn't experience anaphylactic shock, which was what they were worried about at the clinic.

After that, I spent a few days in the hospital under the doctor's supervision. They would give me injections of drospirenone twice a day, followed by oxytocin an hour later. I'm sharing this because our ward was pretty full after the procedure, but for different reasons. Out of the six of us, three had a miscarriage.

The bleeding was heavy only after the procedure and the next day, but then it became more like a discharge for a few days. After the injection, I experienced cramping and my uterus would contract. We found out by chance that we needed to apply ice packs for 15 minutes, three to four times a day. The doctor only told one of the girls about it when she complained about something, and for some reason, it wasn't mentioned to the rest of us until closer to our discharge. By the time we were getting ready to leave, the others were told about it too.

They discharged me four days after the procedure, and on the third day, I had a follow-up ultrasound to check on everything. The results were good, and there was a small amount of free fluid, but they told me that was normal.

Before I was discharged, they took another blood sample because my eosinophils were still high. They remained that way even after I left the hospital.

After I was discharged, I went back to the clinic for a check-up with my doctor. They didn't really give me any recommendations, and I was sent on my way.

I was lucky that I had the blood test results from the clinic, which I showed to my private gynecologist. Based on those results, they prescribed me birth control pills for a cycle to help my body recover. They also advised me to take a break from sex and avoid saunas, baths, swimming in open water, and pools for a while. It was basically to prevent infection since there was essentially a wound inside me.

After I was discharged, I stayed home for five more days because I had a not-so-great vacation coming up, and I had to go back to work. By that time, I didn't have any more bleeding, and my stomach wasn't hurting anymore. But then, I started experiencing some blood clots and cramping, which lasted for three days. I was really scared, so I went back to the ultrasound clinic. The results showed that everything had been removed, but there was still a clot left behind. They told me not to worry about it and that it would come out on its own.

When I went back for a follow-up ultrasound in the next cycle, everything looked good. From day 16 to 25 of my cycle, my doctor prescribed me utrozhestan to help my cycle stabilize and my body continue to recover.

The histology results from the vacuum aspiration procedure were ready two weeks after I was discharged. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything useful in the results. They couldn't find the chorion, which is necessary for genetic testing, even though the ultrasound before the procedure showed that the embryo was still there.

Two months after the procedure, I started experiencing some cramping in my lower abdomen, even after my period. It's not a good sign, and I hope I don't have to deal with any serious complications from the procedure.

Regarding the clinic's refusal to do a scheduled vacuum aspiration, after I was discharged, I went through all the necessary tests, and they didn't find anything wrong with me except for the high eosinophils. The allergist at the clinic said it was an individual reaction to the hormonal medication, and that it would go back to normal once I stopped taking it.

It's hard to put a rating on this whole experience, but I'll give it 5 stars just for saving my life. Everything else is just minor details compared to that. I'd only recommend it for medical emergencies, like stopping a pregnancy, and even then, you might want to think twice.

P.s. We've got a little bundle of joy on the way!