16 and Pregnant, Part One

At 16 I never expected my life to literally flip upside down. I was in my “prime” you see. Just got my license, went to state in powerlifting, was a regional qualifier in track. I was a small, shy, and rather awkward, tiny little ball of energy. With all my new found freedoms and independence that came along with turning the big 16, I got my first boyfriend. He was the hot shot popular guy from my sisters grade. Three years doesn’t make much of a difference, right? Of course not.

Like most naïve and “in love” 16 year olds I eventually caved and partook in an activity all of my friends had before. The taboo sex. I didn’t know much of what I was doing. I knew it hurt at first. A pain I can never quite explain but can relate to the beginning of labor. With hormones surging, freedom from constant watch of my parents, and little sexual education outside of the pledge I took in seventh grade to stay abstinent, you can only guess what happened.

We made it three months.

Crazy right? Who would’ve thought unsafe sex would’ve led to pregnancy. I mean “his pull out game was on point??” What everyone forgot to teach was about precum—that stuff is a hidden baby maker. However, I was in denial that I could possibly be pregnant for two solid months. It was my junior year of high school I was a varsity cross country runner. Obviously that exhaustion and nausea was caused by early morning hard workouts. That loss of tone in my stomach was simple the result of eating terribly. I couldn’t be pregnant I was only 16. I was nearly too of my class. Being late for my period was just stress because that happens.

It was my mom who got a call from a concerned friend's parent. She thought I may be pregnant. My mom asked me and I was like, “Oh there is no way.” But even the words fell out of my mouth with a feeling in my gut knowing I was wrong. I called a friend who bought me a test. I kept saying it would be negative trying to convince my body that it was confused. But the two lines appeared immediately. I froze. My reaction was to grab my phone and text my boyfriend.. my boyfriend who had just told me he loved me the week before. I gathered up the words for the perfect text.

“I’m so screwed.”

And I waited. He replied immediately confused and I sent a picture and the obvious positive. The next few hours were a blur. How could something like this happen to someone like me? I was the good girl, the one who made all A’s, never spoke up in class, was always to myself and doing my best. Now I had this tiny human inside of me and I could imagine the amount of change that was due to come.

This is the start of a true story of being 16 and pregnant, not what you see on TV. Stay tuned.