My first gyno exam was at a clinic close to my high school. My boyfriend's mom scheduled it for me so I could get on birth control pills. She was younger and cooler than my mom and while they didn't want us to have sex while they were in their house, they knew sex was going to happen and wanted us to be safe. She probably didn't want to be a grandma in her late 30s either.
I was 15 or 16. I was nervous about seeing a male doctor but my bf and I had been having sex for a year or two by then, I was not as shy or scared as I would have been had I been a virgin. A nurse weighed me and took my height, oral temp, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration. I don"t remember much about the exam. It was a cold room. I was told to put on a dusty rose-colored paper gown that opened in the front and wait for the doctor.
When he entered the room, he introduced himself. I was surprised because I remembered his name from my birth certificate and from stories my mom told about him. Merville Haines. He was very tall and not a handsome man. He delivered my older sister 11 years before I'd been born. He had been an old man when I was born and long in the tooth when he was a doctor.
The doc listened to my heart and lungs, examined my breasts, and had me get into the stirrups. He used a small speculum. It was uncomfortable when the bristles of the cervical brush swirled at the entrance of my cervix. I told him that he was mom's doctor and had delivered me. He asked who my mom was and when I told him, he said, “Oh, yeah, I see the resemblance.” He was between my legs at the time but hopefully, he meant that he saw the resemblance in our faces. LOL. When he was finished, he said everything looked good, patted me on the knee, and told me to get dressed.
After he left the room and I was dressed, I went into a small room with other women who were also there for contraception counseling. A nurse entered the room and gave the group a class on basic anatomy, sex, conception, and contraception. She explained in detail how to use The Pill, to make sure we took them at the same time every day, what to do if we missed I dose, to use condoms and contraceptive foam if we missed a pill, and to call the clinic if we missed more than one. We were each given a full year's supply of pills, a pill container, tons of condoms, and several cans of contraceptive foam.
After my appointment, my boyfriend's mom picked me up and took me out for lunch. I kept the stash of pills and most of the condoms in a drawer in my boyfriend's room. I kept the pill container with one month of pills, condoms, and contraceptive foam in my purse.
A couple of years later, my mom took me to a gyno for either a UTI or a yeast infection, and on the way home, she said, “Dianne, I think it might be time to put you on birth control.” We were at a red light in traffic and I thought for a few beats with my pulse thumping in my brain, and just as the light turned green, I finally said, “Mom, I've been on them for 2 years.” “What?!!!” she said as she was taking a precarious turn. I think it startled her. Years later, we laugh about it but at the time, she didn't know what to think.
Poor mom. I put that woman through a lot. All of us did. But at least I never made her a grandma.