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Once inside, Jamie made her way to the receptionist. “Hello … Hi, I’m … My name is Jamie, and I have an appointment.”
“Hello, Jamie.” The receptionist reached for a clipboard and pen. “We need you to fill out these medical history forms.”
Jamie took the clipboard, and they found two seats. She tried to steady her hand as she filled out the paperwork, but her handwriting came out shaky.
Pam lay a hand on her arm. “You’ll be fine.”
“I know.”
Jamie finished and returned the form to the desk.
“Someone will be with you shortly,” the receptionist told her.
“Thank you.” She returned to her seat to wait. Her knees felt as if they were actually knocking. She hadn’t expected to be this nervous.
Several minutes later, when Jamie was sufficiently nerved up, a woman came through a door at the corner of the room. “Jamie Linde.”
Jamie walked toward the woman. “Can my friend come with me?”
“Your friend will need to wait here, but you can come back out in between stages if you want.”
Jamie was disappointed and wondered what stages there were. She looked over at Pam, who gave her a thumbs-up. “I’ll be here the whole time.”
“Hello, Jamie.” The woman led her down the hall to an exam room. “I’m the sonographer here at the clinic, and I’ll be doing your vaginal ultrasound today to determine how far along you are.” She handed Jamie a disposable paper sheet. “You’ll need to undress from the waist down, and you can cover up with this.”
“Okay. Thank you.” When the sonographer left, Jamie undressed quickly and hopped up onto the exam table to wait. Now that she was here, her nerves were beginning to settle. A little. This wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. She could do this. Exam, pill, problem solved.
The sonographer returned, helped Jamie into the proper position on the table, and began the ultrasound.
Jamie’s heart beat rapidly, not from nerves this time, but from the thought of seeing the little one hanging out in her uterus. Relax. Deep breaths.
“You don’t have to look if you don’t want to,” the woman said as if she could sense Jamie’s hesitancy. “Many women don’t look.”
“Okay. I … I think I want to.”
“All right.”
Jamie turned her attention to the screen, and there it was. A little round head and tiny body. There was no doubt what she was seeing. There were even little arms and legs. Tears threatened as Jamie stared at its shape.
When the sonographer had finished, a nurse entered and did a blood test and checked her temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. Then she dressed and was taken to a white-walled room with a small steel desk to one side, where she took a seat opposite the nurse.
“So based on your ultrasound and the rough date you gave us for the first day of your last period, you’re eleven weeks along, which is past the ten-week cutoff for the medical abortion.”
“What does that mean?” Jamie was still thinking about the image she’d seen on the screen of the baby inside her and wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly.
“We can do an in-clinic abortion instead that will take no more than fifteen minutes. Much quicker than the pill.”
“Wait, what? No, I wanted the pill.” Jamie was in a sudden panic.
“We don’t administer the abortion pill after ten weeks. I’m sorry. A surgical abortion is your only option today.”
Her only option? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She was going to take the pill and go home and lie there until it was over.
“The procedure is quite simple. The doctor will use a suction tool to clear your uterus. It’s very safe. You may have some cramping afterward, and you should take it easy for the rest of the day, but you should be able to go back to your regular activities by tomorrow.” When Jamie didn’t respond, she continued. “If you’d like to discuss other options, we can go over those together now.”
Jamie shook her head. “No. I ... I’ve decided.”
“All right, well, I’m going to leave you to watch a short video that will go over the procedure so you’re aware of everything that will happen.”