I’m 15 and 32 weeks pregnant. I didn’t plan on getting pregnant, I don’t know who in their right mind would want to at 15, but I’m so happy. The father has been my boyfriend for the last three years, but we didn’t decide to have sex until about a year ago. We weren’t the most protected but we had no clue it would lead to this.

& I still go to school as big as I am. I hear other students whisper to each other under their breaths about how I’m such a whore for being pregnant at my age. The truth is, I’ve only had sex with one person in my whole life, and I’ve been with that person for a long time. Most of the girls that do talk about me and other girls at my school who are pregnant, have had sex with 3 times as many guys. I’m sure almost every girl who stayed in school pregnant went through the same thing.

That’s just the beginning of the downers of being pregnant so young. Another is we have to depend on our parents. My mom is a single parent who pays for a pre-med program for my older brother and a community college for my older sister. She’s also paying my sister’s divorce and son and taking care of her ill mother. Then there’s my little brother, who has to have a life too, and well my mom pays for him too. My dad helps us out as much as he can. His mom, on the other hand, just became a single parent. His dad was shot and killed last December, and left his mom and grandma to pay funeral expenses and other bills along with his education and needs. So we both have to depend on our parents to pay for our baby’s needs. Although he is graduating High School this year with a Skills Degree in Diesel Mechanics, he can’t get a job until then when our baby boy is due in October. I plan on getting a job during the summer to help with all the expenses, but I would then have to depend on my mom and soon-to-be Mother-in-law to watch the baby.

If depending on my parents gives my baby a chance at a healthy life, I’m going to take it but not take advantage. As soon as we can provide for him ourselves, we’re moving to our own home and give him the life we never had.