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Janna

I’m 16. I’m pregnant. I found out in December that I was pregnant, and I was 10 weeks along and it was a really big shock. I never expected it to happen to me. We decided against abortion because neither of us really believes in it. We both thought it was kind of wrong to want to kill something that you made. So we’re going to have a baby July 22. That’s my due date, and we’re really excited.

Making a decision about what to do really is the hardest thing, I think. A lot of it had to do with the support that we had, you know. There were some people that told us, “Oh, you have to do this, you have to do that,” and other people were like, “You know, take it as you go. If you decide you want to keep this baby, keep the baby, we’re here for you no matter what,” and that was what really helped us was that the people we loved and cared about the most really didn’t care whether we had a baby or not. They just wanted us to be happy and healthy, and, if it meant happy and healthy with a baby, then that’s what it meant.

It took probably about a month to make the actual decision of whether we were going to keep the baby or not, because it was a lot of talking mostly between Mike and I…not so much with everybody else’s opinion, but how we felt ourselves and whether we felt we could take care of the baby or not. And we decided that, you know, this is our baby and it is our baby and we’re going to take care of it, you know. We’re going to do what we can to support this baby, and there are people to help us if we need it. So that’s a good thing.

We considered adoption, but it wasn’t really an option because it would have been too hard on us. Mike knew that I never would have been able to separate with a child no matter what. That’s because that’s how I am, and he would have had a hard time, too.

I think parenting as a teen is going to be difficult, but it’s something that we both made the decision to do, and it’s something that we’re going to have to deal with the rest of our lives, you know. This baby is going to change our lives dramatically and that’s something that we’re both willing to deal with.

I am still going stay in school. Mike isn’t in school right now, but when he turns 17 he is going for pre-GED classes, and when he turns 18 he’s enrolling in adult-Ed so that he can get his GED or diploma, whichever, and I’m staying in school.

If anybody else were ever to find themselves in my position, I’d definitely suggest they stay in school because it’s easier with an education. It’s easier to get a job and it’s easier to support yourself and your child and, depending on if you’re with the father or not, the father may not support you. The father may run away; the father may turn away from you. Thankfully, Mike hasn’t done that, but just do whatever you can to further your education and know that you’re helping your child the more you help yourself. And if you do find yourself pregnant, don’t try and turn people away and don’t try and make it so that nobody can help you. Don’t shut yourself off from everybody. You have to let people help you.