Tag Archives: Abortion Doula

As I mentioned in my first post

Not for everyone.

For example, the woman I supported today was most nervous about the pain she might feel during the procedure. We talked about it beforehand, I tried to reassure her. Once the procedure had started, she began to cry, and proceeded to cry through until the end.

She held my hand tightly, I caressed her shoulder and tried to say reassuring things (you’re doing great, don’t forget to breathe) throughout. For most people, the procedure only takes 10-15 minutes.

If I hadn’t continued to sit with her for the 45 minutes she was in recovery after the procedure, I would never have known why she was crying. I could have laid all sorts of assumptions on her about her experience, about the reason for her tears.

Instead, I got to sit with her after the medication wore off, and she told me that while the procedure did hurt, what was hardest for her were the noises of the machines. They scared her she said, and made her nervous. (The noises we heard were the pulse/blood pressure monitor beeping and a little bit of suction during the procedure.)

She didn’t talk about sadness around the abortion at all. Continue reading →