The start to my teenage pregnancy story started like any other day. I spent the whole day twisting my rings waiting for school to end. I always twisted my rings when I was nervous, and my period was nine days late. On day four I had told myself at the end of the week I would take a test.
My Teenage Pregnancy Story: I Picked Adoption But Kept My Daughter
Ian was so cute with blue eyes and a lopsided smile. I had pictures of our selfies plastered across my phone. We both ran track, and the boys and girls teams often traveled together at my school. Those were some of the most fun days and we were both regularly beating our best running times. Ian and I had been official as a couple for about a year and a half since we were 15. I thought it was going to last forever, we were in love. So when we went to our junior prom together, we had sex for the first time. After that, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. One day we were out of condoms, but I told him I could not get pregnant because I had just had my period.
Related: Teenage Pregnancy Effects On Mother And Father: A Closer Look
After school the day I found out, I raced to the local grocery store. I had seen used pregnancy tests stashed in the stall trash can before. It was comforting knowing someone else had gone through the same thing here. I bought a test and sitting in a public bathroom, the line was pink. I cried then took the other test in the box which was positive too.
Later that day, I texted my mom. It has always been just her and me, she was a single mom. My mom immediately texted to come home right away. We both cried a lot. She asked me if I wanted to keep the baby. I was swirling with emotions, but I said I wanted to give the baby up for adoption
As the months went on and I started to show, I might as well have had a big scarlet A on my shirt. Eventually word spread around school and many of my friends stopped hanging around except Emily. Emily and I sometimes had trouble talking. She would talk about track and boys, and I was just getting bigger and going to doctors appointments. Ian stayed by me at first when we found out. As I got further along in my pregnancy, I could not imagine giving up my baby and decided to keep her. The adoption agency was a little upset, but they understood. Ian freaked out at the idea of being a dad. It was not long after we broke up.
I gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Aubrey, and her giggle lights up the room. My mom was my biggest cheerleader and I very happy in the end we kept Aubrey. She helped me through those first couple tough years so much and also helped me finish high school. My school had a special program designed for teen moms which I am grateful for.
Related: Teenage Pregnancy Effects On Baby: Discussing The Challenges
My teen pregnancy story may not have been a wise choice, but life is better with my daughter in the world. While I do not wish having a baby on any teen, I feel my daughter has made me a stronger person. I am so lucky to have this spunky little girl in my life who makes me better every day.
*Kelly is a 23-year-old who lives in Massachusetts with her daughter Aubrey. She is sharing her story with us as part of our series on teenage pregnancy.
I thank you for sharing this story. I am happy that you had the support from your mom to make the difference in your life and your daughter’s.
I’m proud of her for keeping the baby and made the right choice. Such a great story to share.
I’m glad you had the support of your mother. I was a young mom too, and lucky had a great support system in place.
I always say do what’s right for you and your child and it sounds like in your case, keeping her was the best option for the both of you.
Wow! You are so strong! Good for you, girl!
What a beautiful story :) You were brave by keeping your baby. You could have taken the easy way out, but you didn’t and she will be forever grateful for that.
This is such a sweet story. I’m glad she had such a supportive mother to help her through the hard times!
This is a touching story. I’m so glad that she kept her daughter it is a blessing to her. i’m so happy to kept her daughter at her young age.
You made a right decision indeed. Your story is so touching. Thank you for sharing your stories. Keep strong for your baby.
Glad you kept your daughter. I also got pregnant in high school and it was hard but I also kept my son and I am so glad I did. It definitely made me grow up pretty quick and become an adult fast but I have no regrets.
I understand why you picked your daughter, babies are the best surprises we can get out life. Once you lay your eyes on them you’ll start to ask why you picked adoption in the first place. It’s not a bad thing to think that you are not ready yet, but once you see your baby, you’ll think that you’d rather give supporting her a shot than giving her away.
I can only imagine. It is a hard decision and for everyone it’s different!
Glad she made the decision that was right for her. Although, if properly educated, she wouldn’t have had to make such a tough decision at her age.
This is a heart warming story. I am glad to hear that you feel that you made the right choice. If you feel that way then you did. The choice to keep something so special in your life is a great choice to make.
It is such a difficult decision for many. I happy to see that this story had a happy ending.
Such a beautiful story. This will help guide someone to make a really tough decision dealing with parenting early in life.
It may not be a wise choice of getting pregnant too early but the important thing is she kept her daughter, it’s the thing that matters most and the wisest decision. Life would not stop, new life has just began.
I just love this story, so heartwarming. I have heard of stories about teenage pregnancies and although it could be difficult for these girls to be pregnant at such a young age, I do admire those who chose to keep the baby.
This is such a touching post. I have a friend that got pregnant at 15 and i watched her struggle with the decision of adoption. She was also an adopted child. In the end she also kept her little baby and with the help of her family she finished high school and did a two year college program.
You are one strong woman, mature beyond your age. It must have been difficult for you to have gone through this, but I admire you for deciding to keep you baby. We cannot rectify a mistake by making another mistake. Thank you for sharing your story. It speaks so much of how you stepped up to the responsibility of being a mother to Aubrey. Hugs!
I am sure that this story could help guide someone in making a tough decision. It really did bring tears to my eyes. :)
This is definitely a story that took a lot of bravery to share; I think that there are lots of things that most of us would do differently given time and maturity to reflect on our decisions, but it would be very hard to regret anything that produced so much love.
I can’t imagine going through that and having so much responsibility as a teenager. I am glad there are programs to help these teens succeed in their hard circumstances.
That’s a lot to go through as a teen. It sounds like your mom supported you and you are better because of your baby girl. Congrats!
I am glad she decided to keep Aubrey. I think every hardship and struggles is worth fighting for when its for you own child.
I am an ‘adult’ and don’t have kids and still don’t feel ready! That’s a big life changer at such a young age, but I admire your tenacity, you were faced with difficult choices and now can look back on it all and be proud of how far you have come!
Thanks for sharing this touching story. Hope this story will send positive messages to teenager.
I, too, was a teen mom who decided to keep her child. I was far younger than the girl in this story, but I would not change it for the world. I think more schools need programs to help teen moms finish school.
That’s such a touching story. I’m so glad your mom was there to help you through everything. I’m sorry to hear that you lost some friends, though. That’s hard.
Stories like this help those that need some guidance. I didn’t have a child young, but I had a few friends that did this helps people not feel alone.