mummiez & daddiez magazine

Real life story
I was 15 years old when I gave birth to my beautiful
daughter Sam in 1989. I found out when I was 4
months pregnant. I told my family when I was 5
months pregnant. My mum was polite when I told her
but I could see was not happy, she was embarrassed
and expressed that this is not how she had imagined life
for me to be. My dad on the other hand was unhappy
and he was not afraid to tell me exactly how much! Our
father daughter relationship broke down from that
point. My sister was the only one who was happy for
me, she was jumping with excitement when I told her I
was pregnant, although this was
down to immaturity as she was only
8 but it still felt good that someone
was happy. I had mixed feelings
and was still at school.
My mum showed she cared by
encouraging me to eat healthy.
I absolutely hated going to the antenatal appointments.
“It was me and my
little girl against the
world.”
I would look at couples in the waiting room looking
excited and giggling away together, then there was me
on my own. I felt lonely and isolated. The fact that I
was only 15 and that I looked young anyway was
another factor, people would look, stare and tut.
I was so petit before falling pregnant then I put on so
much weight, gained so many stretch marks and they
would bleed. I started to feel so low, more than I did
before.
There was not any support around for expectant young
parents back then. I was advised to leave school for
health and safety reasons, this was
upsetting as it meant I did not get to
see my friends much.
I finally went into labour I had never
felt so scared. I was so young and
not knowing what to expect.
Unfortunately there were
complications with the labour. I was in labour for 23
hours and was exhausted I was in a bad
way. Both mine and my baby‘s heartbeat
started to deteriorate.
After having a long drawn out labour I
finally gave birth to my beautiful daughter.
However things were not straight forward,
cord was wrapped around my daughter‘s
neck, her head was out but the shoulders
were stuck. The midwife panicked and
pulled my daughter out as she could not
breathe she was being strangled by the
umbilical cord.
Finally my daughter was born she was
beautiful perfect in each and every way. I
was in hospital for 5 days before being
allowed home. The midwives were
fabulous, kind and helpful.
As time went on I noticed something was
not right so after tests and examinations on
my daughter the results showed as her
having ‗erbs palsey‘ this was all due to the
force of the midwife pulling my daughter
out during labour. I was upset and
shocked. I was worried how this may
affect her in the future.
I took my daughter for intense
physiotherapy sessions. This was a tough
and testing time but we got through it. The
physiotherapy was great.
After being home for a few weeks I started