Well I guess we could start from the beginning. I found out I was pregnant in January 1997. It was one month before my 17th birthday. And it was definately unexpected. I was out partying and acting like a teenager for about a year and a half prior to this So needless to say I wasn't getting along with my family very well to begin with. So, when I finally worked up enough courage to tell my mom she didn't take it very well. My mom decided that if I wouldn't have an abortion then I would just have to find some where else to live. My boyfriend (Ray) also suggested I get an abortion but he told me that it was my decision and he would stand by me either way. So I thought about it alot and I cried alot and I decided to have an abortion. Not because that was what I wanted to do, but because that was what everyone else seemed to want. So I scheduled my appointment at the clinic. I had to go in for counseling and to learn about the procedure 24 hours prior to having it performed. I went through all of this and scheduled the abortion. That night I went home and told my mom that I couldn't go through with it. The hardest part was that I had based my decision on other peoples emotions not my own. So I got kicked out of my house and went to live with my aunt.

My aunt was very supportive of me and helped me through a lot. Ray and I were getting along well. And I had begun to turn my life around. 9 months may not seem like a long enough time but I sure got a lot accomplished. I was doing great at my new school. And I had moved about an hour away from all of my friends so I spent most of my time reading baby books, magazines & trying to get ready for the innocent baby that I was carrying around in my stomach. When school was out I took a summer job babysitting full time to make some money because I knew I was desperately going to need it. Towards the end of the summer my mom and I started getting a long again. I decided to move back in with her. I was trying to figure out how I was going to support my soon to come baby and also who was going to watch her while I was finishing off my high school career. So, I got myself enrolled in a vocational school that had a day care center in it. I started back to school at the end of August and I was 7 1/2 months pregnant. I was huge, I could hardly fit in the desks. But I managed to make it. I was due on October 18th and I stayed in school until October 14th.