To most people, turning 21 is one of the biggest milestones of their lives. A lot of times, you’ll hear of their interesting and sometimes hilarious occurrences about that specific night.
They may say how they drank the night away and how, without their camera and the pictures from the night, they may never have remembered some of the events that occurred throughout the evening.
Like I said before, that’s most people’s accounts with their 21st birthdays. Mine was kind of the same as everyone else’s, in the aspect that I was throwing-up the next day.
I was throwing-up, though, not because I was hung-over, but because I was a month pregnant.
Three weeks before my 21st birthday, I found out I was pregnant.
One careless night with no protection with my boyfriend of two years, and even though I was on birth control, I somehow became pregnant.
Lots of girls I graduated with from my Catholic high-school have had babies already, and yes, I looked down on their situations when I found out. I always felt as though they were stupid for not using protection, even if it was one time.
And yet, here I am; look at me now.
I’d never been so scared in my entire life.
I paced my newly moved into room, hysterically cried for hours, almost to the point of hyperventilating. I searched for answers as to how it happened; but why was I doing that? I knew how it happened and I knew the exact night it happened.
One night without protection; but that’s beside the fact now. I had been on anti-biotics earlier in the month but never thought twice about it; I guess I should have.
How the heck did this happen to me? I just transferred to a brand new school, starting out my junior year of college, three weeks away from turning 21 and yet, in a single moment, my entire world was turned upside down.
Not only was I scared for myself, but I didn’t know how I was going to tell my couple-of-days-away from being 22-years-old, senior-in-college boyfriend. Happy birthday I guess.
Not only was I scared to tell him, but how in the world would I tell my parents? Especially how could I tell my dad who has been my inspiration in life, as well as my best friend? And my mom, who has always encouraged me to reach for my dreams and never settle for anything but the best?
Even though I had classes to think about, nothing seemed real at that moment when the stick showed a plus sign.
According to a college study out west, out of three thousand college women, six hundred were given a pregnancy test, and out of those six hundred, three hundred were pregnant. At the end of their study, only six of those three hundred girls actually had their child. It’s such a disturbing statistic, but having an abortion is what people do now-a-days.
A lot of people say to me, well didn’t you think of having an abortion?
Absolutely not even for a second. It was my decision to have sex in the first place, and it wouldn’t be fair to take the life of a child for my actions.
Today in the United States, one in every five abortions is practiced on a college student.
Some people may read this and think that life begins when a child is born. Others may be under the impression that life begins when you’re halfway through a pregnancy, at 20 weeks.
Well I have attended Catholic school since first grade, and I have always been taught that life begins at the moment of conception; and I fully believe that to this day.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t think of getting rid of the baby, even though I was scared. In my junior year of high school, I had a religion teacher who was a little too Catholic.
By that I mean, she did nothing more than kiss her husband before marriage, and she was just crazy about certain aspects of the Catholic Church. Well, abortion was one of those topics she was insane about; and looking back at it, I’m glad she was.
I learned so much about abortion from her that year, including seeing movies of abortions being performed, as well as a few terrible pictures.
My entire junior year of high school was spent sitting next to the board, which contained a poster filled with pictures of babies ripped apart limb by limb from after an abortion in little jars. They were very disturbing pictures that I will never forget.
Some persons’ reactions when they find out they’re pregnant is, my life is over, what am I going to do?
I admit I felt that way a little bit, but now as I look ahead, my life is just beginning, just in a different direction.
Right now, I can feel the baby moving around and if you put your hand on my stomach, you can feel the baby kicking and punching, and honestly, it’s the most amazing feeling in the world.
I have been with my boyfriend now for two and a half years and he is the most amazing person I’ve ever met.
The entire situation has been easier to deal with having my best friend in the world by my side. I guess we thought we were invincible to getting pregnant, but we always used a protection and I was on the pill.
But guess what, it happened.
I really wish that when people read this, that they understand that “shit happens” and to never take anything for granted.
If anything is taken from this article, my hope is that everyone, either single or in a relationship, will be safer in everything that they do.
Right now, my life is full of unknowns. The only thing I’m really positive about is that I will be having a baby girl on May 27th, 2007.
Am I scared? Absolutely.
Am I hesitant to think about what my life will become this summer? Without a doubt. But, I will say that my family, friends and boyfriend have been extremely supportive and I am so lucky for that.
