I'm in New Zealand so some parts of my abortion story might be different to others

This is a story about my positive surgical abortion experience. I had an abortion at about 7 weeks pregnant. I chose the surgical because I was uncomfortable with the idea of miscarriage of the medical abortion. I am in New Zealand so some parts might be different to other stories.

I got to the hospital (there's a seperate clinic within the hospital) with my boyfriend and a friend and they put me in my own room (everyone gets a room) and put an IV line in my arm and gave me some drugs to help with anxiety, cramps and to loosen up the cervix to make the procedure easier.

After about an hour or so when it was clear the drugs had started working I was led down to the small operating room. I had to take off my undies and wait in the gown until the table was ready.

When I was lying on the table they injected a few more things to make me feel completely out of it. The nurses were talking to me and a radio was playing. Then all I felt was my cervix being stretched, it felt a bit like a smear test, and otherwise not much else.

I also got the mirena put in immediately after they had finished. I was in the room for about 7 minutes and was surprised when they said it was all over because I barely felt anything! They put a thing like a disposable nappy with a pad on it on me. Then they wheeled me back to my room to rest and told me to pee/eat/drink.

It was all very easy and relaxed. They also put some anti infection drugs in my bottom so I wouldn't throw them up. I slept for about ten minutes in the room and then got the side affect of the cervix loosening drug that affects about 1 in 5 which was unpleasant diarrhoea. This only lasted about two hours.

The other drugs wore off within the hour and I got a bit crampy so going to the loo would release a decent amount of blood. But They let us leave after about an hour and a half. The rest of the day was mostly annoying cramps and going to the toilet to expel blood.

The experience in the end was definitely not scarring or terrible like some seem. The nurses were lovely and the procedure was easy. I only had the procedure a day ago but today I haven't had many cramps or blood.

The hospital offers counselling but I feel fine about the whole experience. I think much of the guilt girls feel about getting an abortion is because people expect us to feel that way. Having a baby is completely life changing and I want to be ready to give my baby the best life, not into the unplanned life of a poor 20 year old with a steady boyfriend.

Now I have the mirena I won't be doing this again anytime soon though which is the most relieving part. I hope others will have a positive experience if they choose this path too.