“By the time we got to the hospital she had already delivered him. I remember walking in the room to see my beautiful friend laying there, a sheen of sweat still visible on her forehead, tired, solemn and more quiet than usual – and thinking she was the bravest, strongest, person I’d ever known.”
‘I was in high school, crammed in a car with my girlfriends, driving to the hospital to support our best friend, who was about to place her baby boy into the arms of a woman she didn’t know, and say goodbye to him forever.’
‘I received the stares, the looks and many of the glares. I knew what those looks were really saying. I understood my life was no longer my own.’
“Memories flood my head so fast they start to overflow as tears run down my face.”
‘YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS.’ I decided enough was enough. Now, I was really scared. Here I am, 19 years old, with a kid – a special needs kid at that – and totally alone.’
“I go to check on Jason before bed. I find him – twitching and unresponsive. I run downstairs, yelling at my dad to call 911. Little did we know, he wouldn’t make it back for his last week of school.”
‘Despite having 5 beautiful children, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that our family was not complete. I looked around and thought, ‘Surely we have room for one more, right?’
“At only 17 years old, while still a senior in high school, I vividly remember the intense fear I felt when I looked at that pregnancy test. What would become of me? I had always been the good girl – the one that got good grades and followed the rules.”
‘When I was 18 years old, I had an abortion. The reasons were deplorable. I was in my first year of college, with a boyfriend I no longer loved. When I was 23, I had another abortion.’
“Before I could blink, I had an adoring husband, a 2-year-old and I was fresh off the ache of a miscarriage. When a recent layoff made insurance scarce and the price of genetic testing unreasonable, I went without it when I became pregnant once again.”
‘I was 17 years old, one month away from graduating high school. I was hanging out with a ‘friend’ who wanted to have sex, but I did not. He chose to rape me and the condom broke.’
“I received a phone call from my cousin who had just turned 14. She was calling to tell me she was pregnant. We ended up being due 3 weeks apart. I was shocked.”
‘I found out I was pregnant at only 17 years old. The news rocked my parents’ world. I was smart in school and dumb in love. I always knew I’d have the baby.’
“My swollen belly served as a force field around me. It quarantined me from regular teenage life. In true Jerry Springer style, I married the childhood best friend of my baby’s daddy.”
‘I was 18 when I had my first child. Now, I’m Mother of the Bride. I am not wearing shapewear. My love for eating and my disdain for Spandex imprisonment rail against it.’
“I’m only 44, so I don’t want some flowy, champagne-colored gown with a bespangled bodice. I’m at least 20 years away from that outfit. Of course, va-va-voom is out. It’s my daughter’s day and I’m not much of a bombshell anyhow. I want to look nice, but not come-hither.”
‘I was pregnant. Talk about the craziest 9 months of my 16-year-old life. My life changed overnight. I found out I was pregnant in May, days after my sophomore year ended.’
“If you want to see friends come out of the woodwork, get pregnant at 16. Everyone judges every move you make as a 16-year-old mom.”
‘I was 14 when I gave birth. It’s not every day you’re sitting in a waiting room with a 14-year-old mom, with her baby’s oxygen tank on her back.’
“I was a cheerleader, swimmer and honor roll student who attended church every week. On the outside I looked like your average kid.”
