Most teens and university students do not plan their pregnancies. Unexpected pregnancies usually lead to stress, shock and constant worrying sometimes serious depression. Some of the problems and worries which cause this are:
o The risk of dropping out of school -pregnancy increases your chances of dropping out of school as at times you will feel tired, stressed out and so lazy to go anywhere. You might have to stay at home after the birth of your baby.
o Stigmatization by other students – it can be overwhelming thinking of what kind of reactions you will get from other students when they find out about your pregnancy but you need to be prepared to stand your ground and not letting their negativity affect you and your studies.
o Pressure to manage time for prenatal visits- time management is extremely important when you are a mother-to-be, you may have to talk to someone at school whom you can report when you need to attend the clinic or visit your midwife or doctor.
o Fear of parents’ reactions after finding out about the pregnancy- some parents may support their daughters throughout their pregnancies but some may still feel disappointed and may not want anything to do with the pregnancy. It is also important to have a good relationship with your mother as they will know a lot better than you and assist you where they can.
o Worrying about who will take care of the baby and financial problems – this is another case where parents are needed although the partner or baby father may assist financially by getting a job so.
o Academic performance might be affected – depending on how you handle the news, finding out about your pregnancy can depress you and you might even consider dropping out. If you don’t attend classes you might be at risk of failing at school and this might affect you emotionally as well.
o Pregnancy might affect relationship with father of the baby – pregnancy may make you feel angry especially towards your partner, this sometimes leads to breakups if not handled well
Young moms need as much support as they can get to be able to get through all of these problems. This is one reason you find a pregnant woman constantly thinking and planning on her pregnancy.if you could enter her mind, you’d find there’s a lot going in there!
I have noticed with myself that what I’m constantly thinking of now, with regards to my pregnancy, is not the same as what I was thinking when I first noticed I had missed my periods. During this time I was scared, shocked and felt very sick. My worries were; ‘what am I going to do? Do I leave or stay in school? What will my mom say? I was actually worried that my mom would kill me! You get worried about things like who will take care of your baby if you go back to school? Who will pay for the expenses and so on.
Emotional turmoils are natural in pregnancy?
The case should be the same for other student and teen moms as well unless their pregnancy was planned and they have good relationships with their parents. Even if you have all the support you still go through some stress which is natural during pregnancy. Sometimes even though their worries may seem real, pregnant women will not handle these the normal way, instead they overreact to them. Like crying over a kettle of water that just won't boil…
Baby fathers- beware!
Pregnancy seems to shift the way an expectant mother thinks and behaves. They may become more insecure mostly about how they look and may seem to cry a lot. Sometimes they forget- this is called ‘pregnancy brain’ and is caused by stress, not having enough sleep and multitasking. Hormones play a huge role in changing the way these women think and behave.
Among the behaviors is the ‘hubby hater’, so in the case of young moms it should be hating on your boyfriend. This may affect your relationship with him and he may flee if he doesn't take a chance to understand these changes. Your role is to be aware of your feelings and assess the way you think about a situation and try not to overreact. One way you could reduce your chances of stressing and fighting with your boyfriend is taking time to relax and talking to your baby; share how you feel and your aspirations with him/her, daydream about whether you want a boy or girl and get lost in the fantasy!
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