Being in high school and plans for the future..

In my post earlier I talked some of what it was like to be pregnant and a mom in high school and of my plans for the future, but I would like to elaborate on those things.


Being pregnant in high school was not really what I expected. On tv they make it look like everyone looks at you weird, and that you are basically just an outcast. It may be that way at some schools, but not at mine. I will say that once one person finds out basically the whole school knows. I even heard that one person found a note on the floor talking about how I was pregnant. It kind of made me mad at first, but I do not really hold grudges so I just let it go. People definitely did stare, not really in a mean way, just out of curiosity and noisiness. I actually think that the staring may having worse when I wasn't showing because everyone was finding out, and by the time I was showing everyone knew. Most of my friends were excited, but I did hear plenty of comments and questions from people who were not my friends. One day I was walking in the hall and this guy stared me down and then right as he walked by he goes "Everyone in this freaking school is getting pregnant." And then there was another person, a girl I walked by, who also stared me down and then as soon as I walked by she stopped my friend and asked her if I was pregnant. I actually thought that was kind of funny because I was obviously pregnant. Most of the questions were routine... "is it a girl or a boy?" "when are you due?" "what are you going to name her?" But then sometimes people got a little too personal... "is the dad still around?" "are you going to finish high school?" "who is your doctor?" Things like that. And then there were the girls who thought they might be pregnant so they would ask me all kinds of questions. I never really minded the questions or the stares or anything like that.

I never had morning sickness, so that never conflicted with school. The only thing that I was really worried about was going into labor at school. I had a teacher who was terrified of that too... she had a fear of child birth, so luckily that did not happen. After I had her I was out through Christmas break, but I still passed because I did my work at home. I am back in school now and her dad watches her while I am at school. I miss her terribly while I am there, but I figure it's really no different than if I was a working mom. I'm only gone for 3 and a half hours, so it is not too bad.

As far as plans for the future I have most thing planned out. I am going to go to a local university and study to be a kindergarten teacher, with the hopes that I will earn my degree on time. If I do then I will graduate right around the time Grace should be starting school, then hopefully I will find a job quickly and I can enroll her at the same school I teach at. I realize that there are many factors that could change in this plan, but at least I have one. There is one thing that is not certain... where we will be living. Right now we live with my mom, but I am desperate for our own place. Don't get me wrong... I love my family, but my mom and I have different parenting styles and it is a small house. I have two younger siblings, and we needed another room before Chris moved in and Grace was born, and now we have no space at all. Plus, they are constantly making messes that could be hazardous to a small baby. We may have the opportunity to move out within the next two months, and if we do we will definitely take it. We are hoping that we will be moved out by the time she is crawling so that she will have room to explore. If that happens it will make our lives so much easier and better.