She had never really wanted children or imagined her life with kids, so when she found out the news of her unplanned pregnancy she was very overwhelmed. She didn’t know what to do.
She scheduled an appointment with Planned Parenthood, but changed her mind and came to Ava Health seeking support instead. She knew she couldn’t go through with the abortion, but she also honestly admitted to her advocate that she still felt conflicted and even unsure about the decision she had made to walk away from the appointment that would supposedly fix all her problems.
We were able to offer her a same-day ultrasound and found she was 12 weeks along. She said to the ultrasound nurse, “This has helped me.”
From then on, we followed up over the phone and she continued to be open and honest about the emotional struggle and concerns of continuing the pregnancy. Every time we spoke in person or over the phone, she was very candid that she was never very sure of her decision but was choosing to continue forward.
She shared the difficulty of not knowing if she would “love her baby” and the very real fears of what being a parent would be like, and feeling torn between her career and child. We connected over the real fact that she might not fall in love right away, and she might not ever be sure about being a parent, but in time she might appreciate her baby and just like how falling in love with her husband took time, she might need to get to know her baby first and that is okay and a very normal and natural experience.
Throughout this time, we were able to offer her many community resources and referrals and talk through other life-giving options such as adoption, but she ultimately chose to keep showing up and sharing her struggle and even at times receiving prayer.
When she had a pregnancy loss scare, we were able to direct her to a medical clinic to have it checked and confirmed that the baby was just fine. All of this still did not change her uneasy feelings and she had a very physcially-difficult pregnancy with many complications–yet our follow up continued.
After the birth, she shared her connection with her baby was not instant, but it was slowly developing; it was a struggle but she would be able to start working part-time and bring her baby with her.
She shared her feelings about her baby and even said that she “Likes him,” and my heart melted.
I was able to pray with her and felt inspired to pray that her sacrifice for her baby physically and mentally much mirrored the sacrifice Jesus made for us.
On our most recent visit, she was visibly well, in love with her baby, and shared that things were really good.
I am so thankful for patients who are honest about their struggles and that they want us to walk through that with them. She is not a believer, but we have had many opportunities to talk about faith. God is doing great things in her.
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