We are both college seniors, and had been dating just about two months and had a slipped condom incident right before Thanksgiving, and I ended up taking a Plan B within 12 hours of the slippage since no 24-hour pharmacy was open near us. I have taken Plan Bs twice before, right around ovulation, and never ended up pregnant due to the luck of timing. By the week after Thanksgiving, I was surprised that Plan B’s symptoms of severe nausea and breast tenderness would last so long – until I took a pregnancy test two weeks before finals, and tested positive thrice. We both knew I was moving to a new city to start my career in a little over five months, and he had committed to graduate school, and neither of us wanted to be parents this early or could afford to be at this stage. However, we both also knew we would love to be parents eventually and deep down, knew this would prepare us better for when we were ready emotionally and financially.
We went to our Planned Parenthood right when I was about 4 weeks and scheduled one for after Winter break. I road-tripped across America with my girlfriends, while he spent the holidays at home. We both felt like we were walking around with a huge secret around some of the closest people in our lives, as we only let a couple of our closest friends know. Three weeks flew by in no time, and we were ready to have our procedure.
We went to our closest Planned Parenthood, and he stayed with me through the entire procedure. On our drive down at the crack of sunrise, we played some of our favorite Kanye tunes and talked about the last time we mistakenly stopped to listen to a protester and had to skrrt right over, as my goofy self said sassy, aggressive one-liners to anyone who was “trying to help” or telling me that baby organs are sold for $15,000. Neither of us wanted to look at the ultrasound or keep a photograph since it would make it harder on us, even though it was a decision we made even before it was a confirmed pregnancy and chose not to get emotional about our first baby together. I was then given ibuprofen and ativan with some antibiotics, and had my procedure soon after. The staff I met called me a party in a pocket due to my nature that could double up as a stand-up comic, as they showed me the attractive maintenance man of the facility and shared some of their office crush stories.
It felt like a bad period since I was only at 8 weeks, and my boyfriend held my hand throughout the procedure along with some really nice nurses who talked to me about my road trip to keep me distracted. I also chose to have a Mirena inserted right after the abortion was complete in order to protect myself from such disasters of two contraceptives failing, and I now have the peace of mind of being protected for 7 years. I spent about 30 minutes in the recovery room, where I fell asleep peacefully and bled very little so I was allowed to be home within an hour of the suction abortion.
The hours after were a giant pizza, Netflix and ice cream party. My boyfriend cuddled and stayed with me the entire day and through the night, adjusting my heating pad, keeping me company, grabbing my prescriptions, and watching 2 entire seasons of our new favorite show. Even though we’ve known each other for such a short time, the unwavering love, courage, and support deepened our love for each other since we know we didn’t have a honeymoon period at all. We have come out of this with so much more appreciation for each other and hope for a fun, stress-free senior year!
