G8P1A4, Age 25

Yep that’s right – 7 pregnancies, 1 live birth 2 miscarriages and 4 induced abortions all before the tender age of 25. Oh and lots of drinking. Lots. She comes in with vague complaints and abdo pain. She had her last menstrual period almost 4 weeks prior to her coming in and her beta was almost 10,000. She was genuinely surprised to find out that she’s pregnant – again. The father was her friend from elsewhere and they both got piss ass drunk when the blessed event happened. Her 22 month old daughter was accompanied by another friend and was passed along to grandma because “mommy always wanted grandkids”. I don’t think mommy wanted grandkids to raise – she probably just wanted to spoil them like a grandmother would want to. Instead, mommy is now stuck working god-awful hours just to make sure that the innocent little toddler is well taken care of because obviously the daughter has shit for brains. I think the staff doc said it the best; “How can one person be so stupid?” and I agree with her completely. After all of those pregnancies and referrals to birth control clinics, you think she might have learned to take better care of herself? Nope. Not at all. She just smiled sheepishly and said, she didn’t think she’d get pregnant this time. Because 8th time is the charm. I fulfilled my nursing responsibility and talked to her extensively about birth control but it was a total fucking waste of my time because apparently she knew all this. “I don’t like to put unnatural things in my body”. Technically speaking, vodka and cigarettes aren’t natural either. And the biggest irony of this entire miserable story – she lives a block away from one of the most respected and accepting birth control clinics in the city if not the province. Somehow I doubt ‘the system’ let her down. Some people are beyond the help of the system.