Teenage Pregnancy – When A Teen Gives Birth To A Baby
“I was shocked,” said Joyce, 42 and mother of a 17-year old daughter who had just told her that she was pregnant. “Yes, teenage pregnancy is no joke. My family was rattled when my 18-year old daughter said she was expecting,” agreed Layla, 45. Read on to find out how teenage pregnancy will affect your teenage daughter, your family and how you should prepare for it.
“How did this happen, was the first question that came out of my mouth when she told me that she was pregnant,” said Joyce. “When I found out that my 17-year old daughter was pregnant because she and her boyfriend decided against using condoms left me appalled. I always thought that the education system would have infused the idea of protection, teenage pregnancy and disease control in their heads by now,” she added. After the initial shock, the first thing that came to Joyce’s mind was to educate and inform her daughter about the concept of maternity, health care and teenage pregnancy. “We were at the point of no return and my daughter had decided that she wanted to have the baby. So rather than making things worse, we decided to impart all the help we could. And it all started with educating her on what to expect during teenage pregnancy and the various health care options that are available for her,” said Joyce.
We couldn’t agree more with Joyce because her daughter had already decided that she wanted to have the baby. There would have been nothing worse for a 17-year old pregnant teen than lack of family support. In Layla’s case, other than dealing with teenage pregnancy, she had one more issue to handle. Her pregnant 18-year old daughter was also into drugs and alcohol. “Teenage pregnancy can also be plagued by drugs, alcohol and tobacco. The first thing we did was stop all of my daughter’s access to these substances as they could have increased the risk of premature birth, miscarriage, other defects or birth complications. Teenage pregnancy is no joke and we made it very clear to our daughter that we will support her only if she quits her bad habits. That is one thing I suggest all mothers to watch out for,” said Layla.
Okay, so we’ve heard from Joyce and Layla about the 2 major issues of educating their pregnant teenage daughters and making sure they quit their bad habits. What next? What to do when your teenage daughter gives birth to a baby?
