Am I Ready To Be A Mom?
Finding out you are pregnant as a teenager can be overwhelming—but that is OK. It is perfectly normal to feel fearful or anxious and a little excited with 20 questions swirling around in your head all at once. If you are not married, rest assured, you are not alone.¹ If you have the support of the father, raising a baby can be easier. Just know, you are not the first female to get pregnant unmarried and/or at an early age. For whatever reasons, your baby needs to be born to you at this time, so they can be in the right place to fulfill their divine plan.²
Jenna’s Story
“One of the biggest questions I had when I was pregnant at 15, was, “Am I ready to be a mom?” Now that I am 38, I know the answer. No one is ready to be a first-time mom, no matter what age you are! None of us can be prepared for the amount of work, joy, love, tears, and achievement we will feel as a mother. There will be hard times, that’s for sure! There will be challenges that will change who you are and make you even stronger. The only thing you can do is your best. Love yourself and your new miracle that is growing inside of you. As long as you do everything out of love, then you will be doing a good job.”
Mothering is a role that you learn as you go, with a little guidance from those who have done it, and a lot of patience. Experience is the best teacher. Here are some tips to help through the next few years whether you are partners with the baby’s father or not.
- Communication is key. Talk to your baby’s father about your feelings and fears but spend just as much time listening to theirs.
- Do some homework. Read about pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. You are not alone, and there are many resources available to you.
- Get involved. Going to childbirth and parenting classes will be extremely helpful for you and the father, if he is going to be supportive.
- Plan ahead. It can be expensive to have a baby and raise them. Social services can help you whether you are single or partners with the father.
- Balancing School, Work and Parenting can be difficult at times, but it is possible! There are helpful articles online that can give you tips on how to accomplish all three.³
You may feel scared and unprepared, but with some research, advice, and experience, you can learn to be a great mom!
- ¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unmarried Childbearing. Births: Final Data for 2019 PDF. Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Osterman MJK, Driscoll AK. Births:Final Data for 2019. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 70 no 2. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2021. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:100472.
- ² Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. Inner Perspectives: A Guidebook for The Spiritual Journey. E-book ed., Summit University Press, 2003. Kindle.
- ³ “10 Tips for Balancing School, Work and Family.” School of Business, The George Washington University. July 15, 2021.https://healthcaremba.gwu.edu/blog/10-tips-for-balancing-parenting-work-and-school/
