Our Pregnancy and Birth Stories
M A R C I A
Finding Out
In December 1996 my sister was killed in a car accident. We were very close so I was really stressed
out after her death. My cycle got messed up right after the accident so when it completly stopped around
June I never thought much about it. I basically put it off to stress. In August my family and I went to
Florida, and I fainted while in line for a ride at Disney Land. That should have been my first guess, but
I put that off to the heat. When we got back from our vacation I started having severe back problems,
I thought that maybe I put it out while on one of the rides so I went to the Dr. and he sent me to a
phyisotherapist. After about a month of physiotherapy my back still wasn't getting much better so
my doctor decided that I should have an x-ray. So I went for an x-ray and the lady who did the x-ray's
all of a sudden came storming into the waiting room where I was waiting. She said "Marcia, when was your
last period?" I thought about it and I said "umm, January I think" (this was November). Then she went
on to tell me that I was pregnant and that just because I had an x-ray this didn't mean that I was going
to have an abortion. My legs were shaking and I couldn't stand. I had this awful feeling in my
stomach....pregnant?! How could I be pregnant? My boyfriend and I were ALWAYS careful!
The doctor's office called when I got home and they said that they wanted to see me on Monday.
So that night I told my boyfriend....thank god he was very supportive about everything! I went
to the doctor's appointment and they figured I was about 24 weeks along!! WOW!! That meant that
my baby was fully formed! I couldn't imagine that I went through all of that without knowing!!
But I hadn't gained more than 10 pounds and I never had any morning sickness or anything like that!
So now all we had to do was tell our parents. I told my mom first and she took it really well!!
She actually was HAPPY! She was looking forward to the arrival of her first grandchild and she
now had something to look forward to in life! ( She also had been pretty depressed after my sister
died ).
My Pregnancy
The weeks flew by with all of the preperations for our baby. My boyfriends parents were very supportive
too! Seth (my boyfriend) moved in so that he could be here no matter when I went into labour.
I had some complications (high blood pressure) and had to be in the hospital for two days on COMPLETE bed rest. I could only get
to go to the washroom. During my last three months I had to have THREE ultrasounds because first we thought my water
broke, then I had some bleeding, then I was having really bad stomach aches (that turned out to be high blood pressure)
I was very sick for the last two weeks and I was ready to have this baby!
In March I was overdue so my doctor decided that he wanted to induce me. I was so excited (so was my mom and Seth!)
Mom and Seth were going to be in the delivery room with me.
My Labour and Sonya's Birth
The day came and I was put on pitocine (I.V. induction).
They started around 9:30 in the morning. NOTHING happened for the first three hours. But then I started to feel
the labour pains. Then NOTIHNG happened until around 6 that night. Seth's mom came and stayed with us in the labour room.
The nurse figured I was going to have to have a c-section. The doctor broke my water and I dilated a little. Then they gave
me an epidural ( I think that they were preparing me for a c-section) Then I dilated 5 cm in one hour!! From 7:30 that night
until 10:15 I dilated fully and the doctor told me I was going to the delivery room. Seth's mom went into the recovery room
to wait for her first grandchild to be born. (I was only allowed 2 people in the delovery room. So after 30 minutes in the
delivery room our daughter Sonya Cailee Herteis-Omand was born. Seth was the first to hold her! He looked so proud!
I have never been as thirsty as I was after Sonya was born and I DRANK AND DRANK AND DRANK lots and lots of water!!
Finally our baby was here! Now she is a very healthy, very adorable little girl! And I am so glad that I had her!
She is my life!
R O B I N
Finding Out
I always assumed that I couldn't get pregnant because my doctor had told me
that my ovaries were incompete..whatever that means.. Anyway when i missed my
period I assumed that it was nothing, but just in case it was i bought a
pregnacy test. It was the choice between the one test or the one that had two
tests in it. Well, I was sure that I would only have to take it once because
It would come out negative. WRONG OBVIOUSLY. Anyway, i went back and bought
the one two in the box. After that i went to planned parent hood.Then made an
appointment with my doctor. Three pregnancy tests ,planned parenthood, and
after hearing her heartbeat I finally believed in. Took long enough I guess.
Pregnancy and Birth
The pregnancy went alright I guess. I had morning sickness practicly the
whole time but other than that it wasn't bad. I gained 35lbs but i only looked
like i was 6 months pregnant when I was actually 9 months.
I was due on April 27th but I didn't actually go into labor until April 30th.
I finally gave birth on May 1st..I was in labor for 17 hours 10 hours without
medication and 7 with. I had an epidural so the ending wasn't that bad. At
12:42 am Gianna was born 5lbs 9oz. Small but perfect.
E L I Z A B E T H
Finding Out
I started going out with this guy named David when i was 15, he was 17.
I was going out with him for 2 months before i got pregnant. I think i
got pregnant on my 16th birthday, because a few weeks later i found out
i was pregnant.
In Feb of 1997, i had a feeling i was pregnant. I wasn't late or
anything, but i just had a feeling. It was on a Wednesday night, me and
a friend of mine were in the store. I had him steal a pregnany test for
me. Well, when I got home, I took it and it turned out positive. I
started shaking really bad and tears were in my eyes. I called David
right up, and his first words were "oh shit!!". He told me that he would
stick by me and he would never leave me.
The next day, my mom asked me if i was pregnant. I just started crying.
She told me that she would support me in having an abortion, I wasn't
even thinking about that anyway. But i was thinking about giving my baby
up for adoption. After my mom found out, everyone knew.
Pregnancy
I was still running off everyday with David, i would even admit I was
pregnant. I denied it for the first few months. When i was 3 months
pregnant, things started getting bad between me and David. He was
getting to controlling, and a few times he almost hit me. I decided it
was time to break up with him. He took it really hard and he would
follow me around town. When I first felt my baby move inside me, I knew
I couldnt give her up for adoption.
My pregnancy went pretty good. I had really bad morning sickness for
the first 3 months. and the last few months, I had heartburn. Besides
that, it was perfact. About a week before I had my baby, I found out
what I was having. . . a girl!! Just what I wanted. I decided to name her
Megan Elizabeth Fritcher.
Labour and Birth
I was induced on November 18th, 4 days after my due date. They thought
she was going to be small, but of course they were wrong. It wasn't to
bad i guess, i was in labor for 8 hours. I had my mom, cousin, and my
grandma in the room with me. I wasn't able to get out of bed, that made
it worse. Delivery was prety easy, it was pretty awesome seeing my baby
being born! I was so happy to see her after 9 months of waiting. Megan
was 9 lbs 3 oz and 27 inches long.
At Home
The first few weeks were really hard. I had some problems breastfeeding,
but I stuck with it. I went through a really bad depression to.
Megan's dad hasn't seen her in months. He did at first, he would come
down once a week. But I guess he decided that doing drugs was more
important to him then seeing his daughter. I filed for child support,
but i haven't seen anything for months. His mom still comes down every
other weekend to see Megan, she buys her diapers and clothes.
I went through a lot, but i made it. I turned my life around a lot since
then. I was smoking, having sex, and some drinking. But after I had
Megan, I became a christian. I want to raise her right. I think God gave
her for a reason, there is always good in the thing He does in your life
even if you dont see it at the time. I think Megan is the best thing
that's ever happened to me.
M E G A N
My name is megan, I'm 20 years old and I have an (almost) 4 year old son
who's name is Terrell. I was 15 when I began having sex with my boyfriend. We had been
together for about six months when we began talking about kids then
talked about having them ourselves ......Now. So we started having sex
for that reason. We thought we were so in love. After about 9 months
of trying, I got pregnant. My mom went ballistic! I still have never
seen her so mad. My pregnancy was pretty uneventfull everything went
the way that it should. I had my son on 12-24-94 at 8:02 pm after a
very quick NATURAL labor. The next day we went home. Through my whole
pregnancy my boyfriend was great he came with me to all my dr.
appointments and everything. I began working and going to school again
2 weeks after birth. I was really lucky; during my pregnancy, my mom
agreed to move to a city where the high school had a daycare. It was
also the city and school where my boyfriend atended. I got to put my son
in the daycare and I went to school. Everything I did improved because
of Terrell. For the first time in my life I was an honor student, in
everything.
Around when my son was 4 months I started having problems with my
boyfriend he was acting weird and not being very nice I guess you could
say. About a month later I found out he was cheating on me. We kept
geting back together and breaking up. The whole time he was still
seeing her even though they were supposed to have broken up. Well she
got pregnant, and I eventually gave up on him. I still have some angry
resentfull feelings towards that that I need to work on even though if I
saw her today I would thank her for making me get rid of him. I have
been through so many court cases you wouldn't believe it. For child
support (that I'm just now getting) and for his visitation. The last
time he petitioned for visitation he never showed up in court. My son
has not seen him now since Jan. 1996. When he came on that day my son
didn't even know who he was. We are better off though. I graduated
from high school right on time then went right on to college. I
graduated from college in May of 98' with an assoiates degree in travel
and tourism. I am now with a great guy who my son calls Daddy. We have
been together for 2 years now and are planning to get married soon.
I think having this web site is a great idea, if I didn't have all the
other girls(and my mom who eventually calmed down) who were in the
program with me during hgh school I don't know if I would have made it.
Some gIrls are the only teen moms in their school or town and have no
support whatsoever. I have not seen any other web site put together so careful since I've began to search
the web. I realy would like to help other girls in the position I was
in 4,3,2, and 1 years ago. Even though I am 20 now I will always be a
"teen - mom" no matter how old I get when people know my son's age and
my own they will look at me in astonishment and say "you were only
17?!?!?!" I know I am doing a good job with my son, better than some
other parents who are 30 and I would like to help other girls be the
best parent they can be and just listen if someone wants to talk.
R O B B I
My labor started at like 6 am. My contractions were about 15 minutes apart. By
11 o'clock they were 3 minutes apart so I went to the hospital. After being
there for an hour the nurse sent me home because, she said I wasn't moving a
long fast enough and if I stayed there it would be an inconvenience to their
staff!! So though the monitors showed contractions and I felt them, we headed
back home 45 minutes away. I started having really bad contractions and we
called the dr. again. We were then told that we shouldn't come in until they
were 3 minutes apart for over an hour. Well, they just stopped so I went to
bed early, since we were supposed to go back to the hospital in the morning (I
was scheduled to be induced then) At 10:30 I woke up and thought I had to go
to the bathroom, but when I stood up, my water broke!! As soon as my water
broke the babies head was right there!! I made it to the couch where my now
husband Brian was sleeping (I didn't want him in bed with me). HE got up and
called my mom and we were going to go to the hospital. When my mom got there
Brian called to let them know we would be on our way, but I couldn't get off
the couch so he hung up and called an ambulance. When the 3 emts and 2 police
officers arrived I was told I could push because the baby was coming right
then! And at 11:06 on 8-10-98 my little angel entered the world in my dad's
living room!! My mom, Brian's mom, 3 emts, 2 cops, my dad and brother ( who we
made stay in the hall way!!) were all there to see little Noah enter the
world. As we were wheeled into the ambulance all my neighbors stood outside
cheering for us!!! ITs one day my family will never forget!!
K A T H L E E N
P R E G N A N C Y
My pregnacy was uneventful First I was kicked in the tummy twice when
I was 5 months put on bed rest for about 2-3 weeks. Than I got a kidney
infection the doctors thought I would have to have an emergancy
c-section but I didn't. Austin stopped kicking for 3 days so I went to
the doctors he was fine the doctor said : he is just getting some sleep
and giving you a break.
L A B O U R A N D D E L I V E R Y
It was July 18, at about 7am my sister Lori was getting up to go to
summer camp. I woke in pain and could not get back to sleep. So I went
down stairs and asked for a heating pad cause my tummy and back were
killing me.
My foster mom said "no" and to go up to bed and take a pillow and
lay on it. Well I went upstairs and tried it but it did not work so I
came back down stairs and laid on the couch I was getting up every
couple of minutes to go to the washroom never had to go though but I
felt like it Kim, my foster mom told me I probably just had the flu
since I was at the doctors just the day before and the doctor checked
me and said I wouldn't go for about another few days( I was complaining
of feeling like I was dripping) so Kim didn't believe I was in labour.
Well every time I had a contraction ( I did not know these were
contractions) I would have to go to the table and lean on the table and
breath I tried eating toast but I almost brought that up. Well about
11:30am after about 5.5 hours of sitting @ home in pain my foster mom
said since I have to go to Belleville I will take you to the hospital.
But Lisa had to go to another foster home for the weekend and she had to
be there for 5pm so we though I wold be released that day cause I had
the flu.
Well as soon as we got to the hospital I was still in pain I
couldn't even sit in a wheel chair. I was took me straight up to the
5th floor. I was checked by a nurse that was in training. When she told
me I was in labour I looked at her and said "ya what ever." But sure
enough I was in labour. I was told if I had stayed home any longer I
would have delivered at home. Talk about close call.
I was taken to the delivery room where I was hooked up to all the
machines and give and oxygen thing up my nose since I have a bad case of
asthma they didn't want anything to happen to me. Well to add to that I
had a bad knee so it didn't agree with anything I tried. So between each
contractions I would stretch my legs out on the nurses shoulders. All I
asked for was water with ice and for the sweat to be wiped off my face
and neck.
I was in labour for 2 hours and 10 minutes. At 3:10pm I had my son he
weighed 6 pounds 12.75 oz I used no pain killers nothing did it all
natural. I tore a little but did not need stitched. Austin was taken to
nursery cause he would not cry he stayed in there ( the nursery) for 4
hours than I was allowed to see him and he was crying for mommy. when he
was a day old they said he may have a heart murmur. But he didn't thank
God.
We were released when Austin was 5 days old we were released. But it
was not easy as Austin ended up getting a hernia and needed surgery when
he was not even 3 months old. Now at 18 months he is a happy cheerful
and healthy boy like any other 18 month old.
L E S L I N A
my pregnancy was typical, nothing big or life threatening happened.
i gained a few fat ugly pounds that i still cant shake, but thats o.k. it was
getting toward the end of my pregnancy and i was so nervous! i guess i scared
xoe too , she decided to stay in there 2 extra weeks. i went into the hospital
to be induced on the 21st of july at about 3pm. they put the
patosin(spelling?) on my cervix to start contractions. it worked i thought i'd
be having her that night, but she decided to just stay there. i stayed up all
night having contractions. my sister was with me the whole time, she was my
partner. the next morning i was dialated to i think 5cm. so i did some walking
and i was just having a great time:) not really. so finally at about 11:30am
i was dialated fully and started to push. at 12:12pm july 22nd, 1997,my
beautiful
7lb. 14oz. xoe alaura entered the world. we stayed in the hospital for 2 days.
she wouldn't breastfeed and my blood pressure was way high, but now we are
o.k.
Email: teen_mommies@hotmail.com
