One Unwed Pregnant Teenager's Story

Ever bash on a pregnant 16 year old? Tell her she made a stupid choice? Ever wonder why she dropped out of high school? Being pregnant that young, believe it or not, is a lot harder then being 18 or older and pregnant. Why? Not only do you have the stress of pregnancy, you have the stress of your peers, your teachers, parents, and everyone else in the community turning their nose up to you. There is also the stress of finishing school, while keeping a job so that you can support your new baby. While your friends go to prom, you sit at home and cry because there isn't a dress that will fit your belly. While they go and get hammered, you sit at home and drink water. While they worry about what college to choose, you are worrying about if you'll ever even make it there. People may say stuff like "Oh, this has to be so hard" or "Things will turn out okay". How do they know any of that unless they have done it themselves? How do they know how hard it is? Here is the personal story of one such young woman. She said it was extremely hard, but in the end, everything was alright. The rest of this article is her story.
My boyfriend and I had been dating for over a year. He decided to join the army about 5 or 6 months after we started dating. He was 16, almost 17. I was 15, almost 16. That summer he went away to basic, everything was alright. Boys weren't everything, I could wait. We got close, everything was perfect. I waited all summer for his return. School started again, knowing the next summer would be just as hard caused us to argue. But we knew everything would be okay. He left the end of May 2007, by the end of June I started worrying about my period. The beginning of July I took a home pregnancy test. The results were positive. I didn't know what to do, how to tell anyone, or what to think myself. I could only cry. (I live in a small town about 200 people, so word spreads fast, usually getting twisted in some way or another.) My mom was going to kill me, was the only thing I could think. I only told two people: my little sister and my best friend. I avoided my boyfriend's calls for about a week. Finally he knew something was up and I had to talk to him. He didn't say much but knew for my sake he had to be supportive. I could do nothing but count the days until his return. He came home the middle of August. I still hadn't told anyone. About a week after he got back we went out to eat and ran into my big sister. She informed me that she knew. How the heck? Who had told her? It ended up being my best friend. Before I got done eating my boyfriend's phone was blowing up. My sister had run her mouth to my mom and anyone else she could. My news was ruined. I ended up getting my High School diploma through our local learning center, and eventually I married my boyfriend. When I had my baby, he was a little boy, 4 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long. Four days before I had him they noticed he was retaining water on his brain. a sonogram of his head after birth saw his corpus callosum was missing. My son has complete agenesis of the corpus callosom. The pediatrician told us 2 days after he was born we were going to have a mentally retarded son. At 16, I didn't know what to think of that, and could do nothing but shrink down and cry. We stayed in the hospital for 1 week before he was released. At 2 months old we had to take him to get a MRI of his brain so they could look at the extent of his condition. The neurologist reported that he would possibly only have mild developmental delays, maybe seizures. We wouldn't know until it happened when he was older. He didn't crawl until he was 11 months. He did not walk until he was 19 months. Now at 2 years old, he sees a speech therapist because he says a maximum of 5 words. But is doing fine in all areas and only has mild developmental delays so far.
So the next time you see a pregnant teen, don't look down on her, and don't bash her. She has enough on her plate and she will be doing all she can and more than she thought she was capable of soon enough. Thank her for being strong and giving that child the best life she can.