Rachel's Story

My name is Rachel, I'm 32 and I had my abortion at a private clinic this morning (4-5 hours ago). I've just arrived home and back at my desk.

I knew that abortion was the right decision for me when I found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago (I have a career and a not-very-supportive boyfriend - actually, ex-boyfriend as of yesterday afternoon!) Even though I knew abortion was the right choice, I couldn't help feeling very scared about the actual procedure and worried about it quite a lot - especially last night, knowing I would have to go into the clinic this morning.

When I arrived at the clinic there were 5 other women also scheduled for terminations this morning and everyone looked nervous and afraid.

Well, there was nothing to worry about! I had a local anesthetic (at my own request, because I didn't feel my general health was really good enough to warrant an unnecessary general anaesthetize) so I was awake and involved throughout the operation and it was absolutely fine. Uncomfortable, of course, but nothing to write home about.

The operation was over surprisingly quickly. I lay in bed afterwards for an hour drinking tea and reading the paper and waiting for the other women in my ward to come round from their generals so we could all get discharged and go home. When everyone woke up, the atmosphere was really lighthearted - everyone was so relieved and obviously feeling in much better shape physically than any of us expected to.

It was very stressful being pregnant and waiting for the abortion but now I readies that I really didn't need to worry about the operation. I am not in a hurry to rush out and start having sex again, but I feel generally well physically and very, very happy and positive.

Now I'm looking forward to getting some work done this afternoon!

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