Being a teenage mother? Wow, there are so many things to say! There are so many good times, but you also run into bad times. The money you need nowadays is outrageous. Also the time and care children need is hard at times. Most of all, what is hard is because I am young, my age is always getting in my way.

Well for starters, I got pregnant when I was only 15. My morning sickness was horrible; as a result, I missed a lot of school. Consequently, the school took my credits away that I needed to advance to the next grade. They told me that I would have to finish the year and would still have to repeat the 9th grade. I thought it was unfair that they were doing that so I dropped out. I needed to get my own apartment for me and my new family (my daughter's father and her). At first I thought this would be very hard for me. This is because most people will not rent an apartment to a 16 year old girl with a child. However my father was planning on buying a house. When he found out the news of my being pregnant, he decided to buy a two family house. He told me that he would rent the second floor to me, Jeffrey and Mariah (the father and my daughter). We have to pay $800.00 a month and utilities are not included.

As a result of getting an apartment, I needed to get a job. This was another bump in the road. As many people already know, you cannot get a very good job at a young age without an education. I filled out many applications. For a while no one called me back. Finally after I was $400.00 behind on my rent, I got a call from a Subway restaurant. I was only getting paid every other week and it was not much at all. When my work hours started to clash with my babysitter's availability, I had to leave that job. Luckily there was an opening for a dietary aide at Radius Health Care nursing home. I got the job and that is where I am currently working. I still am not making much money. At this time I am 17 years old, I need to find a new place to live because when I turn 18, my rent will be going up to $1100.00 and I cannot afford that. When you have a child (whether you are a teen or not) you learn one thing - nothing is about you any more. It's all about your child. No matter what happens, I always put my daughter first. Any extra money or extra time that I have goes right to my daughter. Right now my daughter is 15 months old and since she has been born, about every three months I need to buy her all new clothes. This is because a baby is constantly growing and by the time three months goes by, she is too big for any of her other clothes.

A lot of kids think that it's a breeze to raise a child and get assistance from the government. Although what they do not know is the government will not give you anything unless you are at least 18 or are living in a group home owned by the government. I did try to go for food stamps and I got denied two times. It took me almost a year to get the DTA (Department of Transitional Assistance) to let Jeffrey receive food stamps for us and Mariah.

Even though there are so many hard things to overcome, I keep on going. This is only because I love my daughter with all of my heart. It is very hard to take care of her; however, I would not change anything. I love every day I have with her. Everyday my love grows stronger for her. My advice to everyone is - be very careful because this could happen to anyone. Yes I do love having a daughter, but everything would have been so much better if I were older and ready for a child.