Before You Swipe Left
I am childless.
Before you swipe right because you assume this is another
story of trying to conceive, failed IVF and infertility,
please stay with me a while and hear some of my story.
It was my first serious relationship.
First love, first lust and first sex
but I felt trapped, so I left.
He stalked me
He raped me
I was pregnant
WHACK.
A teenage girl hiding her unwanted bump.
Frightened and alone
she aborted her pregnancy a long way from home.
Fast forward.
A new hope of loving relationship
four weeks in, contraception sorted
I was pregnant
WHACK.
A career woman who doesn’t want to be a single Mum.
Shocked and confused
she aborted her pregnancy not so far from home.
Time moves on.
Partnered now and he is already a father with two of his own
never the right time, how do I ask?
SNIP
Time has run out.
Most days, I wear my childlessness
as a dress of vibrant colours caressing the contours of my womanly body
My two terminations feel like a vest
knitted from coarse yarn that I keep hidden
and it scratches my soul.
Thank you for lingering a while to hear my childless story.
Anonymous