Teen PregnancyYou sit there tense, your face is turning cherry red, your eyes are fixed on thelittle white machine, and you feel like the suspense is killing you, two minutesseem like forever.
All of the sudden you see a “+. ” You’re 15 andpregnant. What are you going to do now? Jessica Inhoff, a junior at Grant, tellsus what she did when she found out she was pregnant with her son last year. Shesaid that she was overly surprised and didn’t know what to do. She didn’twant to have to be there when her parents found out, so she just left a note onthe table and went to work.
Luckily for her, her parents were remarkablysupportive, and still help her out as much as they can with her son. Her motherwatches Kyle every day while she is at school, and will baby-sit one night aweek, so Jessica can go out and still be a kid. According to the Oregon HealthDivision, during 1997 in Multnomah County, 654 girls between the ages of 10 and17 got pregnant and kept their babies. Between 1974 and 1998 pregnancy for teensbetween the ages 15 and 19 increased by 200 percent.
Also once the babies areborn to teen mothers they are more than twice as likely to have a lower birthweight than those born to older mothers, which can cause major health risks. Itmakes babies more likely to die within the first 2 days of life. All thoseunwanted pregnancies among teens cost U. S. taxpayers almost 7 billion each year. One question you should ask yourself before you decide to have sex is; Am Iready to be a mother or a father? If you can answer yes to all the questionsbelow, you are ready to go out Saturday night and decide by having sex withthem, to tell your boyfriend/girlfriend, “Hey honey, I want us to have ababy!” 1.
Could I handle a baby and a job at the same time? Would I haveenough time and energy for both? 2. How would a child interfere with my growthand development? Would I finish school and would I be able to go to college andget the career I want while caring for a child? 3. Can I afford to support achild? Do I know how much it takes to raise a child? 4. Am I willing to give agreat part of my life ? at least 18 years ? to being responsible for achild? And spend a large portion of my life concerned with my child’s wellbeing? 5. Do I like doing things with children? Do I enjoy activities thatchildren can do? Do I like cleaning up children’s messes and do I want to havea child around me 24-7? 6.
What do I do when I get angry or upset? Would I takethings out on my child if I lost my temper? 7. Could my partner and I give achild a good home? Is our relationship a happy and strong one? Do we want tohave to be connected for the reast of our lives, until death do us part? AsLeslie Clark, an alumnus from Grant, figured out, having a baby and being inhigh school is a hard job. She had to skip the last couple months of her senioryear to have her baby, which put her behind a year and not able to graduate withher class. She had a hard time raising her son Allyn on her own for the firstfive years, but luckily after that she and Allyn’s dad started dating again,and ended up getting married.
Seventeen years have now passed, and she is ahappily married certified public accountant. Jessica Inhoff is now experiencingthe responsibilities of being a teen mother, which she says, are “endless. “A normal day goes like this for Jessica; she gets up at 6, after being awakehalf the night (with her son’s wake up calls at 12:30 and 3 A. M. ), and goes toschool.
She goes through six rigorous classes and then leaves during seventhperiod to go home and take care of her son, so her mother can have a break frombabysitting. For the next three hours she changes diapers, cleans up his messes,plays with him, and does her homework all at the same time. At 5P. M, she makesthem dinner, and feeds both herself and her son.
Then from then until 8:30, theytake a bath, play, and she gets him ready for bed. At 9P. M, he’s usuallyfinally asleep. Now she has a little time to herself to do her homework andmaybe watch TV until she falls asleep, to wake up again at 12:30 and calm acrying baby. There are many ways that you can try to prevent pregnancy, but themost effective is abstinence.
Other methods of birth control include condom use,Depo-Provera, the pill, and a few that other not as popular methods for teens(for example Norplant and a Diaphragm. ) For more information on how to preventpregnancy you can talk to your doctor or pay a visit to Grant’s School BasedHealth Clinic, where everything is confidential. Try to be careful, andhopefully you will never have to go through the rigors of being a pregnant teenor parent. BibliographyClark, Leslie.
Personal Interview. 25 March 2000. Inhoff, Jessica. PersonalInterview. 27 March 2000 Smith, Verita. Grant School Based Health Clinic.
Personal Interview. 30 March 2000. State of Oregon. Oregon Health Division. TeenPregnancy Rates Ages 10 ? 20. Multnomah County.
1997-1998.
