“I don’t know if they were tears of joy or fear,” senior Alyson Marsh* said. “Maybe a little of both.”
It’s senior year, and instead of worrying about graduation and ordering her cap and gown on time, this senior has so much more to worry about. More important than hanging out with friends on the weekend. She goes to school every day acting like nothing is wrong. She’s pregnant. She’s going to have to raise a child while she finishes school. With or without the father.
Marsh noticed something wasn’t right when she began to use the restroom more frequently.
“I wasn’t drinking more then usual,” Marsh said. “So I knew something was different.”
At first, Marsh thought nothing of it. Then possibilities began sneaking into her mind. Then, it came to her. What if I’m pregnant? Marsh called one of her best friends and asked her to buy her a pregnancy test.
“After she bought it, I didn’t want to take it right away,” Marsh said.
She put it off a couple days and when she finally took it, she was in shock.
“I sat there and stared at those two lines,” Marsh said.
Adoption?
“Adoption is the last resort,” Marsh said. “It will not happen unless it’s required.”
Abortion?
“I’m completely against abortion,” Marsh said. “It isn’t even an option.”
She’s scared to tell her mom. Not only because she’s afraid her mom will be mad, but because she’s afraid that her mom will be disappointed in her.
“That’s my biggest fear,” Marsh said.
The pregnancy isn’t the only thing her mom would be mad about.
“She doesn’t really like my boyfriend,” Marsh said. “So I know she won’t be okay with it for a long time.”
She’s trying to figure out what to do and what not do.
“I plan to go to the free clinic,” Marsh said. “So I can find out when I’m due and what I need to do.”
Pregnancy would be scary even if her mom was by her side, but this senior wants to do this alone.
“I want to show my mom how mature and grown up I am,” Marsh said. “So she’ll have more faith about the situation.”
Typically, a high school senior’s plans are to graduate and figure out where you want to go to college. This senior’s plans just got a little out of order.
“I plan to attend MSU,” Marsh said. “I’ll work on campus to pay for campus daycare.”
She also plans to work outside of school to make ends meet.
“I plan to take all my classes in the morning, “Marsh said. “So I can study in the evening while the baby sleeps.”
“Being a senior and only being 17, I had a lot of plans for my future. Only some of them had to change.”
* this source was anonymous