As someone who has gone through a pregnancy loss, I know how jarring it is to sit in the waiting room of the OB/GYN, surrounded by women with large, pregnant stomachs, and working to cope with the fact that you were just told your baby has no heartbeat.
One woman suggested that OB/GYN offices start to offer two different waiting rooms — one for those who are having successful, healthy pregnancies, and those who are going through a loss.
“I would like to make a recommendation to OB/GYN offices to have a different waiting area if you are there for a miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy, a rupture topical pregnancy,” India Batson begins.
“If you’re there for a loss, I’d like for there to be a separate waiting room from the regular waiting room because sitting in that waiting room next to tons of pregnant women while you wait to go back just to get blood work to see if your hCG is back to zero sucks, like it absolutely sucks.”
She goes on to explain that she didn’t realize how emotional the experience would be upon arriving back at the offices, but once inside, she felt a rush of emotion.
“I didn’t expect it to make me so emotional to be back in the place to get my blood work where I found out that there was no longer a heartbeat,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting to have … this rush of emotions come back in the room. Like, ‘Oh, this is where I found out there’s no longer a heartbeat.’”
“Like, I don’t know how to explain it. It just kind of like brought all the emotions back … Pregnancy loss is hard.”
After her video went viral, several TikTok users commented on Batson’s post, agreeing with her suggestion and wondering why this kind of idea has not been implemented.
“I work in Healthcare design and will always keep this in mind now,” one user wrote.
“Having been on both sides, I completely agree 💗” another said.
“THIS. And a separate exit route. I had a missed miscarriage. I had to walk through the waiting room sobbing after learning of our loss! I just put my head down and tried not to make eye contact,” another shared.
Other users shared that their doctors had them wait in their car to at least ease the pain of sitting in a waiting room with pregnant women.
One person wrote, “My OB let me sit in my car, texted me when she was ready for me, and let me in the back door. She had a special room without birth announcements and stuff too. That should be the norm. I’m so sorry. 🥺”
Almost 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage with 80% of those miscarriages happening before the 12th week of pregnancy. That’s almost 25% of women heading to OB/GYN offices to work through pregnancy loss, hCG level testing, and the complicated feelings that come with pregnancy loss.
