So it’s been about 3 ½ weeks since I had my first abortion. It’s still kind of crazy to me because I was one of those people that said I will never do it. I actually accompanied one of my best friends during her abortion. And all the whole time I was thinking, I could never do this. And I even begin to judge my friend thinking how she could have done such a thing. Well, now I see where judging gets you because I was in the same predicament.
A little back information about myself, I am 21 and a senior in college. I had recently broken up with my boyfriend and was on the rebound and in need of some excitement. I started talking with a guy I knew from around campus (who by the way is two years my junior) and after a few nights of “messing around” we had sex (oh yeah unprotected….dumb dumb dumb mistake)….. About three weeks later thoughts started coming into my head that I was pregnant. I initially ignored them and did the age old wait on my period. Well needless to say my period never came and so I decided to make a trip to Student Health. When I arrived at student I tried to whisper my purpose for being there to the front desk nurse. After a while, she took me to the back to do the pregnancy test. After taking my sample she told me to go into the doctor’s office. I probably should have known then because as she directed me she gave me one of those “I’m so disappointed, you’re so young” looks. The doctor was nice enough, he said “Well, you are positive” and he believes that I am about four or five weeks pregnant. He asked if I wanted to set up a visit with a physician but if I wanted to think about my options that will be fine too.
So I left the office trying to hold back tears. And I immediately thought to myself “I cannot have this baby” and as far as the “daddy“is concerned I knew with him being so young he wouldn’t be able to handle it either. Initially I didn’t even want to tell him, a friend eventually convinced me that I should. When I got home I went online researching the abortion clinics in my area, and the prices for the procedure. Since I am a poor college student I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford it. And asking mommy and daddy was completely out of the question. So I made a call to the clinic for an appointment, in the state where I attend school you have to make two separate visits one for the consultation and the second for the actual procedure. I asked the receptionist about payment options and she said if I need assistance I could call a hotline that helps people fund the procedure. I called the hotline and told them my story and they said that they would cover the whole procedure. On my first visit to the clinic they checked me in and I had to sign a whole lot of paperwork. After that they took me into do the ultrasound, the nurse pointed out that I was very early and that she didn’t see anything. She told me to do another pregnancy test to make sure I was pregnant. For a moment I became happy thinking maybe the people at student health messed up (as they are prone to do), but after a few minutes the nurse assured me that I was pregnant but I would have to wait two weeks before I could have the procedure done. When the nurse told me I had to wait my heart sank for a moment. Just thinking about having to wait and now deal with tiredness and nausea I had been experiencing for the past two weeks.
Two weeks had passed and my appointment was scheduled for 10 that morning. One of my friends volunteered to be my driver and road with me down there. I was at the clinic for about 3 hours the majority of time was spent waiting to go through the process of blood work, ultrasound, payment, etc. The actual procedure took about 7 minutes to complete. And the rest of the time was spent in recovery. After I was done my and my friend went to my favorite restaurant because I was pretty much starving after the whole thing. Went home, took some pain medicine and went to sleep. That was first night in 6 weeks that I had felt relieved. And I can truly say I’m not sorry.
