I Was a Teenage Mother

“This is not what I wanted for you, “my mother said, with tears in her eyes. My teenage years were hard. I was the daughter of an addict. I had little family support, but still I made the best of everything. Two months before my sixteenth birthday, I found out my life was going to change. I was pregnant. Being pregnant at a young age was expected in my neighborhood. Pregnancy at this age was not what I wanted for myself. I knew pregnancy could be tough on a woman mentally, financially, and also physically.

In life, people are faced with choices. Some of life’s choices are very simple, for example, deciding what to wear to work or choosing what to watch on TV. Other choices, however, are much more serious and have life-altering consequences. Being pregnant had many choices, whether to keep my baby. There was no question I was keeping my baby. I didn’t quite think about how I was going to take care of a baby. I just knew that I had to. I was already taken out of school for the sexual harassment issues at my current high school. I told my baby’s father, I was pregnant. He continued to live his life, this wasn’t his first child. My mom was disappointed, but still she stayed by my side and did what she could to help. I tried to go back to school.

My pregnancy was easy for the first few months nothing seemed different. I didn’t get sick. I didn’t crave anything crazy. Deep inside I felt I could do it. I have watched my mom raise five children alone with no fathers. I could surely raise one alone. I felt I could manage a good life with one child. I would pack me up a lunch and take the bus everywhere like there was not another life inside me. I would still hang out, run, jump, and play like my world was not about to change.

One day, when I was about six months pregnant I realized this was not a joke. My body started to ache. I could barely walk, move, and I could not go to the bathroom with help. I was admitted to Piedmont Hospital. I felt a pain all over my body like never before. After having tests ran, the Doctor told me my body was adjusting to being pregnant and that the baby was making room to grow. I thought to myself, my teenage body was not supposed to be going through this. I was kept overnight for observation. After about a week, life for me went back to normal.

My due date was October 31, 2005, but my little one decided it was not quite ready for the world. It was a week, later on, November fifth about seven o’clock pm when my contractions started. At nine o’clock pm is when my contractions became five minutes apart. My mother called the ambulance and grabbed my overnight bag. The ride to the hospital was not an easy one with every bump in the road I cried a tear. The pain was so severe. I had never felt anything like that before that point. I knew I was being ripped apart from the inside out.

When we arrived at South Fulton Hospital, I was only three centimeters dilated. I had a long way to go before I was ten centimeters. I had to be at least five to get my own private room. After ten long hours, it was time to push. I pushed and pushed, but she would not come out. I took a break while they checked to see if my baby vitals. I pushed a few more times until my baby girl’s head was crowning. I was tired of pushing after fifteen minutes. My doctor decided that an episiotomy was needed to help me give birth. After a few more minutes of pushing my doctor wanted to use a vacuum to help deliver the baby. The use of the vacuum was successful. On the night of November 6, 2005, I gave birth to a beautiful six-pound baby girl. I named that baby girl Liyah Rose Moses.

My pregnancy was not hard for me because I didn’t let my one bad decision define the rest of my life. As a child, there is a lot I took for granted. Now as an adult I know I was not an easy person to live with. I was very disrespectful and that needed to change. That change could only be understood if I was a parent myself. This is my way of showing how I handled becoming a teenage mother. Also, how getting pregnant at a young age is not the end of the world. Finding out I was pregnant was very scary, but having family support made things a lot easier. Dealing with the body change, hormonal changes and not being able to do the things I was used to doing was hard. Realizing my world, no longer revolved around me alone. I have four kids now; I see each one of them as a lesson learned. Each of their fathers was a stepping stone to me becoming more mature. Having children makes you face yourself, even if you are not ready to. Motherhood has humbled me and giving someone more than myself to live for.