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DESIREE'S STORY

My name is Desiree, and I am 20 years old, and have a 2-year-old son named Jaden. My life before my son was as typical as many teenagers. I didn’t live at home. When it came to family, it was quite limited. My mother was a single mother, my father is deceased, and my brother was incarcerated. My relationship with my mother was very close, so close we were more friends than mother and daughter. I was considered the rebel with not going to school, so I ended up going into state’s custody to live at a group home for two years.

The group home taught me how life was suppose to be, and got me back on the right track. I was about to graduate, had a part time job, and was looking at colleges. I told myself that I was going to be the one to succeed out of my family.

The winter of my senior year everything changed.  I got pregnant. The scariest thing about having to break the news was telling my foster parents. They believed in me, they knew I would succeed, and them knowing that I was pregnant would crush the dreams that we had built.

When I saw their faces, when I told them, they had the look that I never thought they would have towards me, the look of disappointment. After that I couldn’t look them in the eye. I knew I disappointed a lot of people.  They didn’t think I was going to graduate, I would have to quit my job, and everything I worked so hard on would be shattered.  They acted as though I had just wasted their time.

It got to the point that the group home wasn’t for pregnant people, so I had to leave, leave the place that I grew to love over the two years that I lived there.

That’s when I came to Lund Family Center. I was so scared—it felt as though my life was out of my hands. But I was scared for nothing.  Lund Family Center said that they could help me with school and graduating on time, keeping a stable job and getting an apartment. When I found out that they had these opportunities to succeed while being pregnant, I was determined to prove people wrong.  I could still have all of those dreams and succeed in life.

Being pregnant wasn’t the easiest, I was scared, worried, and happy, and had every emotion at once. When I first had my ultrasound, the doctors thought my baby had something wrong with his heart. They then told me it was calcium. When he was first born he had fluid in his lungs and was constantly on a nebulizer, and was a constant sick child.

On June 14th 2003, I graduated with my class.  I walked as proud as could be across that stage. I was my mother’s only child to graduate. All of my classmates whispered, stared, and pointed, saying, “That’s the pregnant one.”  But I didn’t care: I did this for myself and my son, no one else.

After I graduated I moved to Lund’s Independence place, which is where you have your own apartment but there is Lund staff in the building in case you need them. It is a transitional step into getting your own apartment out in the community.

When I went into labor I was still living at Independence Place and almost had my son in my apartment.  Luckily Lund staff was there to support me, and care for me.  I got into the hospital and I was fully dilated. 20 minutes later my son was born.  I was so scared that I thought he was going to be born in the ambulance.  When I got to the hospital nobody was there, my mother was trying to park the car, and my friends were trying to find my mom. The only people that were there were my birth coaches: two staff members from Lund Family Center.

Now my son is 2 years old, and I live on my own, have my license, and have graduated from High School.  After all of this I still turn to Lund Family Center—my son goes to their childcare.

If it wasn’t for Lund Family Center who knows were I would be. I want to thank every staff member there that has helped me on my rough journey, and for always believing in me.

Oh, did I mention that I now work for the Lund Family Center! 

Love Always,

Desiree

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