Pregnant Teens Talk About Life As Young Moms

Teka Steward is in her second trimester of her pregnancy. She is a straight-A student and described herself as a "goody-two-shoes" before she got pregnant. She said she was the goody-two-shoes whose mom worked in the school district and couldn't do anything or she would find out. She was captain of her golf team, was involved in Young Life, a leader, involved in her church and went on mission trips. She was six months along when she said that. She explained that she had an image, and then a temptation of doing stuff, and that she's a regular teen and falls sometimes.. all the times. She had heard all the information on safe sex and said that she practiced it, and to her shock it didn't prevent her pregnancy. She said that they had used protection and she thinks it just broke. She said that you don't even know it's happening until it happens. She said that at first she was like "OK this totally ruined my dreams," and then explained that she feels differently now, and you have to keep pushing forward and pressing towards your dreams. Many pregnant teens who find little support end up in poverty and only 3% finish college before age 30.

Ashley Chapman learned that she was expecting at 17. She thinks that they need to make new statistics with her 3-month-old-Max. At first she thought that she would just take care of it, then she realized she can't. She said that she had sex and that she has to be mature and deal with the consequences and grow up really fast. Now she has to tend to Max's every needs. She says that its totally different because you can't just go shopping and do whatever you want when you have a baby. Everything is about them, feeding them, changing them and playing with them.

Besides the weight of an impending infant, the pregnant teens also have to deal with how society, family and friends view them. Angela Gavieres learned that she was expecting at 15, and said that a lot of people are disappointed and they say, "oh she's a waste and you know, her whole future's going down the drain. She is currently 5 months pregnant and said that her future, and her school, she was terrified.

Janelle has dealt with the same issue. In school she let a lot of the teachers down because they were expecting more from her. The other day her friend's little sister called her Jamie Lynn Spears, and she felt heartbroken because she used to look up to her, and felt like she had let her down.