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I am a 17-year-old mom. My daughter is just a little over a month old and I want to share my experience with other teens. I met my daughter’s father when I was only 15 and he was 16. He was the only person I had ever been with. We broke up and got back together all the time. I started to realize I wanted to be with other people, but by that time I was already 3 months pregnant. I didn't have any clue that I was pregnant. All I thought was this couldn't happen to me. I wasn't "one of those girls". I was so naive.

Finally I decided to go and get tested. I asked my daughter’s father to come with me and we went to the local Planned Parenthood. The whole time we were in the waiting room I was saying how much we shouldn't be there and that I wasn't pregnant and all this, but then the nurse came in. She asked me and my now ex-boyfriend to step into the exam room. She told me to sit down, and then revealed to me and him that I was pregnant (about 3 months already). I burst into tears and all I could say was this couldn't be right. I left that day thinking about abortion and never telling my parents. I had to go to work after that and all I could do was cry. They ended up sending me home early. When I got home I walked into my parents’ room and told my dad I needed to talk to my mom. I looked at my mom with tears in my eyes and said I love you and started to cry. She knew right away what was wrong, but I made her promise not to tell my dad. She told me how she didn't want anything to do with the baby. I was heart-broken, but I was lost and didn't know what to do.

Finally about 2 weeks later we told my dad. He was pissed, and pissed honestly doesn't even do justice to how mad he was. My life was turning into something you would watch on TV and say "I am so glad that’s not me." The night I told my dad he said something I will never forget. He said "If no one here is going to speak for that baby, I am. It doesn't deserve to die." And that statement did it for me. I knew I couldn't kill my child. There’s no way that I could live knowing I did that, so I chose that day to keep her. My mom, for the first few months, wanted me to put her up for adoption, but I told her I couldn’t do it and to just wait and see.

About a month after telling my parents, I broke up with my daughter’s father. (Yes, girls, believe it or not, you can leave the father of your baby.) He was way too immature. He was a high school drop out, and now that we were having a baby, I was looking at the long term picture and not the short term. It was rough. He was a jerk, but then he would "love" me on and off, just like that, up until my due date. I was finally within weeks of delivery and then I had to stop going to school. They wouldn't let me go at all because I was so far dilated and effaced that I could have the baby anytime. Well, finally the night came when I had to go to the hospital and I got to call him and say it was time. He and his mom met me and my parents at the hospital and through my whole labor he was very helpful and concerned and, believe it or not, so were my parents.

Now I am a mom and I have a beautiful baby girl, and I am graduating from high school, and I am college bound, and I am not in the same relationship. So here’s my moral of my story... #1 If you are pregnant and young, don't worry about what everyone else tells you to do. Do what you feel in your heart is the right thing to do. #2 Don't think just because you have a baby that you have to be with his/her father for the rest of your life. I am 17 and I want to see what other people are like. Don't limit yourself. You’re young and you only live once! #3 If your parents freak out, it’s normal. Don’t worry, they do get over it and they will love their grandchild as much as they love you. Believe me, my mom says to wake her up at 3 am if I want to sleep and she will take the baby (remember the whole "I don't want it" thing from before?). And my dad dances around the house with her. And most importantly #4 Don't give up on your education. You can do it. It's just a little harder. Good luck, guys and girls. Take care of yourselves and do the right thing. By the way, I wouldn't give my daughter up for the world. I love being a mom and I love her.