"I personally feel like my emotions and concerns during one of the most life changing experiences I will ever have were completely disregarded and not taken seriously. I was petrified and confused because of conflicting things that were said and feel like I was a burden on that doctor. I feel like I wasn't taken seriously because of my age, the fact that I'm a young single mom who was having her first baby, and that I was alone without a partner while I was in labour."
"I don't remember how it happened but next she spoke as if the test was just a formality, as if I already had gestational diabetes and the baby was already suffering.
My husband tried talking to her, explaining there are better ways to list out the risks than saying my baby will die. Her response was she was "just doing her job." He tried talking to her more than once but she always blamed my anxiety and her need to do her job."
"I was a single pregnant female without a phone or anyone around to help. [...] I legit thought this evening I was going to die. I honestly felt it was the end and they didn't even help me to the bathroom."
"Pain affecting women's reproductive parts is not taken seriously. I have received pain shots for stitches on my finger, yet when a vacuum abortion was violently performed on me, pain was an afterthought. How is this even possible?"
"I am a master's educated 30-something and I could not navigate this experience, nor advocate for myself. This really opened my eyes to what marginalized women must go through."
"The nurse gave me an internal exam which confirmed the location of the baby. A doctor then gave me the same exam to reconfirm the location of the baby. Then, a third doctor gave me the same exam yet again, this time without requesting my consent. She was examining me for what seemed like a long time, even joking around with her colleagues while inside of me. I was getting more and more anxious, knowing that this was increasing the risk of infection."
"The nurse instructed a student to check me and I shook my head no a bunch of times but they checked me anyway. [...] This nurse was doing almost everything I asked not to be done. It felt like she was offended by my choice to have a birth plan. [...] As that student checked me I felt myself give in and surrender control. I felt so defeated."
"Once my incision was closed the OB screamed at me!!!!!! "Don't you know what could have happened, I don't ever want to see you in this hospital again!"
I am not afraid of confrontation at all and had I not just delivered a baby after 36 hours of labour, I would have yelled back. He made me feel like I left the life of my baby to chance without a care about her well being."