Hey guys my name is Edith and I got pregnant at 17 years old. I was a junior in high school when I got pregnant. I knew I was pregnant when I missed my period of course. And like any other girl the first person I told was my boyfriend Bryan. He was in denial, there was no way I was pregnant ;we were to young and not ready to have a baby. When he told me that, I was like “wow okay” so he might not want anything to do with this baby. Every night I prayed to god my belly wouldn’t get big. If he wasn’t going to support me I knew I wasn’t going to be able to face the hallways in school, because as we all know everyone in high school are good to judge. So I told him it was a joke I just wanted to see his reaction. A week later I began to get morning sickness. I was blessed because it only lasted like a week and my mom never noticed I was getting up to vomit. Every morning my mom would take my sister and I to school, and she would see a couple of pregnant girls. I remember her always saying “oh no sweetheart if you guys get pregnant you are on your own And out of my house that’s not cute.” As I was already pregnant. Ugh! Sometimes I just wish she was be quiet. As time went by I noticed my pants became tighter and tighter and all I could think about is… Am I going to get big? Nobody knows how is everyone going to react? I really didn’t know what was coming. After my boyfriend and my mom had made a comment saying they weren’t there to help I decided to hide my pregnancy. Of course I knew I was pregnant but nobody else did. Soon January came around the corner and at the time I didn’t know how far along I was but looking back I was about 6 months pregnant still no belly and no one knew. I started to get nervous because i could feel my baby move and even though I didn’t show I still felt like everyone around me could see my baby move around it felt like an earthquake inside of me.

This was Me at 6 months pregnant. Now fast forward to March of 2017. Keep in mind nobody knew I was pregnant God heard my prayer and helped me hide this big baby inside. So March came and we are all getting ready for spring break. In class I made a joke saying “this is my last day here guys I’m getting deported during spring break.” (Just remember this it will come back up) we go on spring break and I had no energy to do anything. I would go out with a couple of friends but I was always tired. March 16, 2017 I woke up at 2:00am my stomach was hurting and I would walk to the restroom and it would go away I was like okay weird. It was now 4:00 am and it couldn’t stop but I was so afraid of going to the doctor I didn’t say anything yet. It was now 10:00 am and I shared a room with my sister. She went to go tell my parents something was up. They come to the room at 11:00 am and I couldn’t help the pain it was so intense It was hard to hide at this point. My mom was like I have to go to work but if you don’t feel good call me I’ll come home. She went to work. At like 11:20am my dad come in and says let’s go to the doctor it hurts me to see you like this. I said no I didn’t want to go. He comes back and says if you don’t go I’m going to call an ambulance. I was so mad and said “fine I’ll go but first I have to get ready.” The pain was unbearable. So we finally get to the doctor and they saw me in so much pain they let me skip the line and took me next. The first thing they did was take a pregnancy test. And I was like OMG OMG IM GOING TO GET IN SO MUCH TROUBLE. As we are waiting for the test to come back. I was so nervous my hands were sweating.

I heard a knock… the doctor comes back in and says did you know you were pregnant I said WHAT NO. (Of course I knew but nobody else did so I refuse to let everyone else know I knew.) she was like we are gonna have to tell your dad I said I don’t care so do whatever. She told my dad and I could see the look in his face of disappointment and anger built up. I started crying I felt like I had let him down. But all he said was “well we have to do whatever it takes. It’s already done we can’t go back.” They rushed me to the ER where they had done an ultrasound. My sister helped me take my clothes off and change into a gown because I felt like I couldn’t move at this point. Outside of the room I could hear my dad call my mom and say “if you’re going to be mad don’t come but Edith is pregnant and we are in the ER.” Of course she rushed to the hospital and cussed me out saying how dumb I was, how nobody was gonna help me. My sister started crying and I did too. At this point I felt so alone. They did the ultrasound to where we can hear the heartbeat and my mom said “yeah she’s pregnant” and walks out of the room. My sister still stayed with me crying and I was crying and the doctor said “oh sweetheart I’m so sorry you are 35 weeks pregnant you are going into labor.” My parents flipped they were so mad nobody wanted to be in the labor and delivery room with me. My sister yelled at my mom to come with me and she said no. Later she comes in and says did you let Bryan know. I said no my dad took my phone. So she gets my phone and I call him but he didn’t answer. My mom was like well call his mom I said oh no I can’t. My mom calls her and says don’t tell me you didn’t know she was pregnant. His mom was in shock too. His mom calls Bryan’s uncle and says I need Bryan to come home ASAP he did something really bad. Bryan calls his mom and said I’m working why do I need to come home? And his mom replied with don’t act like you don’t know! Edith is in the hospital giving birth. Back at the hospital the doctors are checking me and I was 8cm dilated. The doctor says wow you could have popped this baby out in the restroom. They asked if I wanted the epidural I said yes. My mom refused but since she didn’t want to be apart of this experience I ignored her. After the epidural I felt pressure but no pain it was literally the best thing ever! It was now 7:00 pm and Bryan’s family showed up to the hospital. You could tell his dad and my dad had been crying, his mom was mad and so was my mom. They came into the room to see me. And it was so awkward everyone was just staring at each other with so much hate I could feel the tension. The doctors came in and said okay who do you want in here and I said nobody and she said are you sure because we are getting ready to delivery the baby. I said yeah nobody please. Everyone was mad so I felt alone. My mom refused to get out so she ended up staying. It was just my mom and I. Doctors were coming in and out asking what are you having? I said I didn’t know. My mom started asking about names and I said I didn’t want something common. So she started looking for names and came across “Alaia” I thought it was beautiful and unique. And the meaning of her name was highness and greatness and the biblical meaning is to ascend joyful. I just thought it was beautiful. As for a boy name I couldn’t decide. It was now time to push and they said we were going to do a test push. As soon as we did the test push her head came out the doctors were like wow okay we are going to go for it she’s already here. We pushed the second time. I was no longer breathing they put me on oxygen. And they could no longer hear a heartbeat they were pushing on my stomach trying to make the baby move yet nothing. 3 minutes had gone by they said if they couldn’t find her heartbeat in the next 2 minutes they were going to do an emergency C Section. I started to freak out my blood levels were so high. They told me to breathe all I remember is praying to god saying “please help my baby if nobody else wants this baby I do I will do anything for it” God was most definitely on my side they found the heartbeat again. On the 3rd push she was out and the doctors yelled “ITS A GIRL.” It was so emotional when I hugged her for the first time I whispered to her and said you will forever be my miracle baby. Omg she was so precious! It was definitely love at first sight. March 16,2017 at 9:01pm Alaia was born.

( No last name yet) They took Alaia to get checked because I never went to an obgyn (pregnancy doctor) so they had to make sure she was okay. In the mean time I was getting sewn back up I had a minor tear. The doctors started freaking out. They couldn’t find a pair of scissors. I hear the nurse whisper and ask the doctor “ did you leave them inside? The doctors said she wasn’t sure. They put a machine over my stomach (I guess kinda like a metal detector) to see if the scissors were in there and they later found them by the sink. It was quite an experience if you ask me. Later when they moved me to a regular room and everyone came to see me. All I got was “how did you not know” I said I don’t know. My second day there I had to fill out my daughters paperwork and I wasn’t sure if Bryan was going to be apart of her life so I didn’t know whether or not I should give her my last name or his. Then his mom says I needed to give my daughter her last name because that’s how they do it in Mexico or something like that I said Heck No! I finally decided to give her his last name “Alaia Angeles”. When his uncles came to see me they said my daughter did not look like Bryan or his family she just looked like me. Then they asked if that was really his baby or am I just saying that because we are dating. So basically they thought I was sleeping with everyone. Okay. What else was coming my way? When it was time to sign the paternity papers his parents told him well you don’t have to sign if you’re not sure. Bryan still signed. For the first 3 months it was a love, hate relationship between Brian and I.

My family couldn’t stand him and I could stand his family because of all the questions they were asking me.

We stopped talking for a good time and In-between that time he wouldn’t ask about Alaia he would just keep His distant. When I returned back to school my classmates thought I had really gotten deported…. little did they know I had a baby and that’s why I was gone for so long. I finally told everyone and they were in shock. I did have people look at me ugly and say ewww or say I was sleeping with everyone. A part of me cared but the other part of me was like they aren’t the one who have a blessing like I do. And my friends were really supportive so that helped a lot! I was able to graduate on time. Fast word to now I am 20 years old my daughter is 2 years old and me and Bryan are living together and expecting another baby june of 2020. No i didn’t go to college. But I do have a full time job. And I am thinking about going back to school but I’m undecided.

My advice is If there’s anyone going through the same thing. Don’t listen to what anyone else has to say. Even though you’re a young mom, only moms know what’s best for their babies. You will come along tough obstacles yeah and maybe even worse than mine. But you’re one strong mom and you can get through anything. If you don’t have a support system It’ll be rough but you’re strong and there’s people out there who are willing to help. You just need to be open and you will get through it at the end of the day everything happens for a reason and your baby will soon appreciate everything you did or will do for them. Remember everything you feel wether it’s scared happy or anger your baby will feel too remain strong for them!