So, I shared my first abortion story the day I got it done which was March 17, 2020 labeled “Relived, pain free and thankful.” Today on January 5, 2021 here I am 5 hours post surgical abortion and the story hasn’t changed.
Here’s my story, November 2020 I realized my period was about 2 weeks late. No biggie because my period is usually super late. I decided to take a pregnancy test just in case since I’ve been here before. After taking 6 test all were positive. Great now what? My last pregnancy was pretty easy, so easy that I was able to go 16 weeks before I could get my procedure done. This time was the complete opposite. One week goes by and I started feeling symptoms. I was extremely nauseous, constipated, fatigued and had excess saliva. I finally built up the courage to schedule an appointment and now it’s the day before Christmas Eve. I was taken back for my counseling session and my ultrasound. Due to how early I was I had to get a vaginal ultrasound. She asked did I want to see the baby and I agreed to see it. It’s done. I now had to schedule my actual surgical abortion. It was scheduled for January 5th. I felt pretty anxious because I now have to go through Christmas and New Years PREGNANT. I’m a current graduate student just trying to make it day by day, so it was pretty easy to make this decision. I simply did not want a baby. As time goes on, my symptoms went from bad to worse. I tried my hardest to keep it together since the only person that knew was my partner. Family and friends had no idea what was going on. I made it through the week finally and here we are at the day of my appointment.
My partner and I get dressed and make our way to the clinic. Things are a little different this time, due to COVID-19 of course. I went up to the door and rang the buzzer. I explained what I was here for and they simply directed me to stay in the car until they were ready for me. I finally received a text after maybe 10 minutes of waiting saying “your provider is ready for you come inside and make your way to suite b” simple. I went in and I paid $290. They asked did I was IV sedation and I thought “OF COURSE!” Last time, if it wasn’t for the sedation I’m not sure if I would’ve made it through. The front desk lady handed me my consent forms which basically asked about family history and I had a few things to signature on. About 5 minutes after that, I was called back into the room. The doctor took my temperature and then directed me to the bathroom where I had to pee in a cup. After that, she sat me down and took my blood pressure and gave me my antibiotics to prevent infection and a 800mg ibuprofen. Afterwards I signed more paperwork which basically gave consent to a few student nurses to observe. I was then directed to go and sit in another small waiting room where I was the only person waiting about 2 minutes later another nurse came out and I finally went into the procedure room. The nurses directed me to get undressed from the waist down and to hop on the table and drape a sheet over my lap. Soon after another nurse came in and began to put in my IV. She comforted me the entire time and ensured me everything would be okay. Soon after that a group a female nurses entered into the room and began to start the procedure. I put both legs into two stirrups then I was instructed to scoot to the edge. I felt the sedation begin to kick in and wash over all my fears. I closed my eyes and the lights got dim. The nurses were all so sweet as they kept ensuring me, I was OK. I was pretty much awake for the procedure, but if I’m being honest I don’t remember much after this.
The next thing I recall was being wheeled into the “recovery room” where I was greeted by another sweet nurse and a feeling of relief. She helped me into my chair and placed a heating pad onto my belly. She gave me a cup of ginger ale and a bag of gold fish to help ease my nerves. I was pretty out of it. After a few minutes pass, the nurse walks me to the bathroom to check how much I was bleeding. After I got the OK for my partner to pick me up, he drove around back and did so. We stopped to get food and went home. When I got home we ate and soon after I fell asleep. Now I’m here, 5 hours later feeling like myself again after 9 long weeks. I’m thankful for the amazing team of providers that helped. I have NO regrets and I would do it a third time if I had to.
