Keiry

Keiry met her baby’s father her sophomore year of high school. Though they were the same age he was a junior because he skipped a grade. He was her first real boyfriend and she felt her life was perfect. She was totally in love with him. He had always been a smart guy so it was no surprise when he got accepted to the University of Notre Dame. Of course Keiry was happy for him but she was sad knowing that he would be half way across the country. They lived in California and Notre Dame is in Indiana. But he went away, and this is the reason that their relationship went down the drain. But Keiry still loved him. When he visited they reconnected, but when he was gone they fought badly.
Eventually Keiry started her senior year of high school. She was so excited but she knew that she really needed to focus if she wanted to graduate. She was very smart but she got distracted easily so her grades weren’t very good. She was having fun being carefree her senior year. Then during her birthday week in March her boyfriend came to visit again. Keiry was in her second semester of her senior year and had just turned 18, and then she missed her period. She took a pregnancy test and it came back negative, she was so relieved. Then she took a trip to Chicago to spend Easter weekend with her boyfriend. Just in case she took another pregnancy test the day before she left for Chicago. It was positive. She ran to the store and bought four more tests. She took them and they ALL came back positive. Suddenly Keiry felt alone, scared, and confused. But most of all she had no idea how her boyfriend would react. She left for Chicago the next day and didn’t tell her parents she was pregnant.
When she got to Chicago she told her boyfriend they were going to have a baby and to her surprise he was extremely supportive. They decided they would tell their parents together in May when he came home for the summer. When she got back from her weekend with him she went to her doctor and he confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. After that she began going to the OBGYN. She always went alone, and this made her a little sad. It was April and things between Keiry and her boyfriend. Then one day they were on the phone arguing and Keiry brought up the pregnancy. Unfortunately her mom was listening. Needless to say her mom freaked out, she yelled at Keiry like never before. But in the end, her mom agreed to be there for her no matter what. Her mom even kept it a secret until May.
When Keiry’s boyfriend came back to town that May they told his parents and Keiry’s dad. They were all extremely disappointed. But they all agreed on one thing, they wouldn’t let the school find out. Keiry only told her very close friends about the pregnancy. They had begun to wonder what was up because she had been missing an average of three school periods a day due to her morning sickness for the past three months. Her friends were supportive and with a lot of makeup work and diligence, Keiry graduated high school.
The rest of the pregnancy went well and on November 21, Keiry’s son Aaron was born. It was a stressful day for her because she worried her boyfriend wouldn’t make it to the birth of their son but in the end he did. He had to go back for school that weekend though. Keiry was so thankful for her parents who helped her day and night for the first three months she spent alone. In March Keiry and Aaron moved out to Indiana to be with her boyfriend for his last two months of school. Then during the summer they moved back to California. But when August rolled around they moved back to Indiana for school.
They are currently living in Indiana and Keiry says it is very hard. Not just the back and forth, but the day to day life troubles her. It was really hard for her to adjust to being across the country from her family and just relying on her family of three. Her boyfriend goes to school during the day five days a week and Keiry goes to school three nights a week. It’s not easy but they make it work. Aaron’s dad is very supportive and Keiry is so grateful for him. He is graduating this spring and they have been together for five years. Aaron turned two this past November and he is a happy, healthy, playful toddler.
Here are some words of wisdom from Keiry: “Everybody tells us teens that it's not easy to be a teen parent, but nobody can actually tell us how HARD it really is. It’s HARD, I cry sometimes, but I get up every day for my son. I wouldn't trade having my son for anything in the world.”