. jenny (17) .

I'm Jenny. I'm 17 years old and 6 months pregnant, due October 19th.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was already in a sticky situation because I had ran away from my family, which had moved 1100 miles away. I was stuck in the city, with my boyfriend, and worrying about where I was going to sleep the next night.

About my 3-4 month of pregnancy, I realized that I couldn't do this by myself. Not saying that he wasn't there for me, but we together weren't able to financially do this. And as a runaway, I couldn't see a doctor because I was underage. Now my boyfriend was in and out of court for driving stuff constantly. And on May 15th, they finally put him away. I was stuck, pregnant, all by myself. I decided to come home.

I'm home now, and it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My parents didn't get mad at me, and they got me to a doctor ASAP. They've bought me clothes, and everything I've needed so far. Lately, I've been growing out of my clothes REALLY fast, so they've gotten me new maternity clothes (which are expensive).

With me being so far away from the man I love, it's been really hard. I'm in the country, and I'm a city girl. All I really have to do it sit around and think about him. I'm proud of myself though, I start my training tomorrow at a new job, so at least it'll take my mind off of everything. His release date is in August, so me and him will be together soon.

Being pregnant at such a young age scares me, because I know society will look down on me for it. I'm worried that I won't be able to fulfill my dreams, or anything like that. But those worries fade a little bit everytime I feel the baby move. It's defiantly an amazing feeling.

Lately, I've been feeling really fat. I can't walk long distances without getting a pain in my stomach, it's harder to find comfortable sleep positions, and I eat constantly. I have a younger sister (15) who has the body of Barbie, so it's like a tease watching her run around having fun constantly.. going to parties.. all the stuff I can't let myself do, but I feel it'll be worth it when the baby comes. Thanks for hearing my story.

   

. update .

As I said before.. I was due October 19th.. but I delivered early.. August 26th. My little boy (Daniel) was born at 6:53AM and weighed in at 4 pounds 8 ounces and was 17 1/2 inches long. It scared me delivering early. I was at work on August 25th, training my sister on how to do my job for when I went into delivery. I had woken up that morning feeling cramps.. but since this was my first pregnancy, I didn't think it meant anything. I got to work at 11AM and worked and trained my sis until 4PM, and then came home and called the hospital just to reassure myself that everything was normal.. but it wasn't, they wanted me to come in.

So we all piled in the car and I went to the hospital. I got there, and they put monitors on me and said that I was having contractions and that I was going to have to stay in bed until the baby was born. That killed me because I was supposed to make a trip to Virginia to see my boyfriend get out of jail, which was supposed to happen on the 28th. They gave me injections of some type of medicine to stop the contractions, which was working very well until they lowered my dosage, and then the contractions wouldn't stop. But the funny thing was that I wasn't feeling them until right before delivery. Since I was giving birth early, they had to send me in an ambulance to another hospital (about 40 miles away) because the hospital I was at didn't have a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for my baby.

I got to that hospital, and they put me in a room with another girl that was put on bedrest (come to find out she had her baby about a week after me and he was only 1 pound 11 ounces) I was depressed because I knew I'd be stuck in the hospital and miss my boyfriend getting out of jail. My parents brought me clothes and shampoo and toothbrush and all that stuff and all I did all day was watch TV, talk to my roommate, and write letters to Tony.

Well, I stayed in that hospital room for about 1 week. One night before I went to sleep my left side was hurting really bad (to the point where I wouldn't move that much) and I called a nurse in. She told me that it was my ligament stretching and not to worry about it. I wasn't really confident in her decision, but I went to sleep anyway. About 4 hours into my sleep, I woke up. Both of my sides were hurting really bad and my back was killing me. I got up to go the bathroom when I noticed that all underneath me was soaked with water and blood. That scared the crap out of me. The first thing that ran through my mind was that I lost my baby.

As I was walking to the bathroom, the nurse came in to check on my roommate. She saw the wetness and blood on my gown, and just gave me a worried look. I went to the bathroom, which was nasty and hurt very much, and came back to my bed. She then hooked the monitors up to me and, THANK GOD, the heartbeat was still there. She sent a doctor in the room and he checked my cervix to see if I was dilated, and I was at 5 cm. They moved me in the labor/delivery room and about 10 minutes later, I was dilated to 10cm, and by then I figured, okay, he wants out.

All that was running through my head was "I'm not ready for this, what did I do wrong? Is he going to be okay? Am I going to be okay? Where's my mom? I want my boyfriend". Well, my mom arrived as I was getting settled in the labor/delivery room. They gave me an epidural, which I LOVED, and he began. My mom had to hold my legs up for me, because I couldn't feel them. I kept feeling the urge to push, and the doctor kept telling me not to push yet. When he FINALLY told me to push, I was so relieved!! After 5 pushes, little Danny came out and it was over with. I didn't even get to hold him afterwards, and come to find out his cord was wrapped around his neck. About 20 minutes later, my Dad and my sister arrived, and they wheeled me down to the NICU unit on the stretcher, and I got to see my baby boy. It scared me though because he was in an incubator and had tubes hooked up to him and he looked so tiny and frail. I was afraid to hold him. You could actually see through his ears.

He did really good. He didn't have to stay in there for long.. he was sent home with me a week later. I had to spend the night in a room with him so they could make sure I had the slightest clue on how to care for him when he was released. Finally, I could take him home.

About 1 week later, Tony was released. He caught a bus from VA to IL a couple days later. I moved in with my brother, got a job in town, and prepared to see my boyfriend again. He arrived around 2 in the morning on September 10th, and I was so happy to see him. He was so happy to see his son, and spent many nights crying and apologizing that he wasn't there to see him born.

We lived with my brother for about 2 months. Tony was working 13 hour shifts cooking at a restaurant about 10 miles away, and I was working about 17 and a half hours every 2 weeks. My boss was on my butt about me coming back to work, so 2 weeks after Danny was born I went back to work (which I regret.)

We moved out of my brothers house and rented a house right down to the street from my parents. The rent is only $250 a month and it's a 2 bedroom. Just last week, Tony and my landlord were arguing and Tony was kicked out, so he's back in VA right now.

I don't know what I'm going to do as far as me and him goes. I love him with all of my heart and I don't want Danny growing up without him. So I have a lot of thinking to do.