Confessions - VI

It's hard to get respect as a teenage mother. No matter what you do or how you act, people seem to have a preconceived notion that you are either trash or a slut. I was neither. I won't say I made a mistake because mistakes are things that have negative consequences and Steph has never been a negative thing. I wasn't on welfare and I knew exactly who "baby daddy" was, whether he admitted to it or not.

When Steph was small I didn't drive yet. Which was fine, I didn't have anything to drive, so my mother took us and went with us to all doctor's appointments and things like that. It drove me absolutely insane. My mother was great and tried really hard to let me be the mother. However, the "adults", i.e. the doctors, nurses, etc. always deferred to her on everything. I often had to remind them that I was the mother there and that they should speak to me about MY daughter. Sadly 18 years later, people still tend to have a hard time discussing Steph stuff with me if someone older is around. And it still drives me nuts.

That first summer was good. It gave me and Steph time to get to know each other and really adjust to our life together. I started my senior year of high school in August that year. I think more than one teacher was surprised to see me back. Most of the time, teenage moms didn't come back, didn't finish high school. Most ended up another welfare statistic with a 2nd baby by the age of 18. I refused to be that way.

My mother worked night shift. She came home and took care of the baby while I was in school. When I got home, I took over. She was a good baby. Didn't require a whole lot of hands on piddling with. She slept well, ate well and was healthy. Thank God. I guess whether you're 17 or 27, life with a newborn infant just goes on as it should.