I was so excited when I found out I was pregnant! Especially because my doctor had reassured me that it was very unlikely that my baby would be born with HIV.
Not long before my baby was due I had to go to hospital in Sydney to get ready for a caesarean operation. I was put in a private room and I was feeling very nervous, but also so excited!
My friend Ellen was coming to visit me. When Ellen arrived, she said
“why is there a big ‘Infection Control Notice’ on the door of your room?”
I was so shocked. All the doctors and nurses of course knew I had HIV, but I didn’t expect to be treated like an outcast. Ellen told the doctors and they removed the sign straight away and told me that it had been put there by mistake.
I was so shocked that I would get treated like this, in a big hospital in Australia.
After my baby was born, things got even worse…
Part II of Marta’s story will be published tomorrow.
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