By Laura Davis

7^th June 2009 was the day that changed my life, that was when I found out I was pregnant. The day before my mom told me that she was going to get me a pregnancy test because she had a feeling I was pregnant. I was nervous all night; my boyfriend went home because he was scared about what was going to happen. I couldn’t sleep that night; I was tossing and turning thinking what was going to happen if I was pregnant. The next day I did the pregnancy test. I looked at my mom and she had an angry look on her face, I smiled because I thought she was joking. But she showed me the test and it was positive. I was 7-8 weeks gone. I was so scared I didn’t say anything. We were all in shock, I never thought that it would happen to me but it did.

I had three options, to keep the baby, to have the baby adopted or to have an abortion. My mom said she would support me with whatever I wanted to do.  In the end I decided to keep the baby but I was worried about what people would think of me being so young. My mom phoned my boyfriend and told him the results. He came to the house but we weren’t talking much, I knew he wanted to say something but I didn’t know what, but then he came out with: “How are we going to pay for the baby when we haven’t got any money? We are still young and it’s gonna be hard!” I said: “You don’t have to stick by me if you don’t want to, but I’m not getting an abortion.”  From then my whole family was shocked that I decided to keep the baby. After a while everyone got used to me being pregnant. I went to all my scans and doctors appointments, and they baby was growing well. I still had to think about my education, and I found a mother and baby unit to go to.

Shazad Akeem Hussain-Davis was born on the 18^th Febuary 2010 at 9.41pm, he weighed 9lb 7oz. I was shocked about his weight but I was so glad to meet my lil boy.  When I came out of the hospital my whole family was waiting to see Shazad. It felt strange being a mom at a young age; I gave up everything to be a mother to my son. I also changed a lot of things in my life. Now I couldn’t go out and hang about on the streets like I used to, it has made me more mature being a mom. I knew I had to put Shazad first in my life before anything else. 

Now my son is 15 months old, being a parent is hard but it’s something you have to cope with. When they’re crying and you don’t know what they want it’s hard to handle. At first when Shazad was a newborn it was kind of hard because it was a lot to get used to at first, becoming a new mother I didn’t know anything about babies or what to do with them, but I got a lot of support from family and health  visitors. My nurse gave me lots of advice about breast feeding and sleepless nights etc.  Buying all the baby clothes and essentials is difficult too. At the time I wasn’t getting any money, so my mom paid for everything, and my family bought things too which helped.

Coping with my education and looking after Shazad is a lot to think about, but I get a lot of support from the mother and baby unit. While I work, Shazad goes in the nursery all day and I get to see him on breaks. I think I’m a good parent, I have given up a lot of things for my son, but I wouldn’t change anything now or go back to how it was before I got pregnant. Having a baby at a young age has changed my life, but I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t have my baby.