On the last blog post we spoke about the problems of being older and pregnant, however, being young and pregnant has it own set of worries. Like Dympna when I found out I was pregnant, a couple of days after my 21st birthday, I was in completely denial. At first I thought I misused the pregnancy test so I took it three more times only to get the same result. After I took the tests I spoke to my boyfriend about what we should do and we both decided that we were not economically ready to raise a child. On that day I found out how expensive it was to raise a child, with the average cost being $233,610. When I saw that number I knew that financially I was not ready to have a child, but then I read more about raising a child and found out that many people feel unprepared to have a child regardless of their income.

Reading about other parents struggles made me feel better about my own, but then I realized that those parents were all older than me. Then, the anxiety of telling my parents began to set in and for a while I debated on even telling them right away. That anxiety only increased when I remembered that I had to tell my boyfriend’s parents as well. I begged my boyfriend to wait until I started showing more, however, he insisted that we told our parents as soon as possible. Many young adults feel nervous about breaking the news to their parents because of the uncertainty of how their parents would react. I was sure that my father would be very disappointed in me, but when that day finally came it was my father who turned out to actually be the happiest about the news of his first grandson.

The hardest part of being young and pregnant is trying to figure out how to balance raising a child, going to school, having a job, and maintaining a relationship. During my pregnancy I was certain that I would still be able to take five classes, work twenty plus hours a week, and go on dates with my boyfriend when the baby came. Now that the baby is finally here all those things I was certain about have changed and nowadays I’m trying to figure out how to shower before 2 A.M. However, the birth of my baby also brought more love into my life than I ever expected. Some days I’m even happy to have a baby at this age because I can not imagine waiting any longer to hold my son in my arms.