My Teenaged Pregnancy

At the age of 12, my parents finally divorced after years of separating and getting back together. My world was torn apart. A year or so after the split of my parents, my father and my sister moved about 1000 miles away, and my little brother and I stayed with our mother.

I was so full of anger and despair. I started hanging around with the wrong crowd, and began smoking. Drinking soon followed and I became a very wild child. At the age of 14, I went to a party and ended up losing my virginity.

I was only fifteen for a few months when I got pregnant. I was so young and naive, that I didn't even realize I was pregnant until I was four months along. My baby's father and I were no longer together, and I decided not to tell him. He lived about 3 hours away, and I really didn't know how to get a hold of him anyways. When I was about 6 months along he came knocking on my door, and told me that he was there for me and our baby.

I turned 16 years old and had my son the next day. His father and I stayed together for about 8 months after he was born, and I told him that I thought I was too young to get married, and that I didn't want to base a marriage on the birth of our child. He tried to talk me out of it and I would not listen. He was a very good man, and still is. My mother had me emancipated and I got my first apartment. For the first time in my life, I was on my own.

It is very hard to find a decent job when you are 16 years old, let alone pay for a babysitter as well. I worked for a fast food restaurant for a few months, and was paying virtually everything I earned to a babysitter. I decided that I had to get an education so that I could raise my son properly.

Within six months after having my baby boy, at the age of 16, I obtained my GED and 2 months later I was enrolled in college. I was really scared being 16 years old and in college. I did not know what to expect, as I hadn't even finished half of my 4 years of high school. After a month of being in college I was fine, but by the time my second semester started, it became increasingly hard to take care of a baby and go to school full time. I made it through my second semester and I was so ready for a summer break. I was getting financial assistance from a few different programs, and they informed me that I had to keep going through the summer sessions, or they would not continue to help me. Reluctantly, I signed up for summer classes, and a few weeks into the first summer session, I couldn't do it anymore. The stress of having my own place, raising a baby on my own, and going to school full time was too much for me to handle. I dropped out.

I always told myself that I would go back to college in a year or so. Over the years I supported myself working in factories. I got married had another baby and she passed away. I divorced after a five year relationship and again was on my own. Thirteen years later, I finally got my first college degree. I got married again the same year. The following year I received my second college degree. I am still married and have four children including the one in heaven.

I was a very young single parent and I'd have to write a book to tell you about all the bad things that I went through as a teen aged mother, but I would not take back having my son for the world. I can say that had I waited until I was older to have a child, I probably would have been a better mother to him early on. I pray that my daughters will wait until later in their lives to have children. I was so immature and unready to have a child.