I was 16, in Year 10 attending a Catholic school. My then boyfriend Dave and I decided to take ‘the next step’. Even though we practised safe sex, the condom broke!
The day I found out I was pregnant, Dave and I were working at Wendy’s. I vividly recall how one minute I was sitting in the public toilets looking at the white stick and seeing the two blue lines appear – signifying a positive pregnancy test. The next minute Dave and I were serving ice cream with lollies and handing them to kids– it was so surreal!
The best way to describe it is “I wanted yesterday back.”
I knew I had to tell my Mum and Dad and Dave’s parents. I was so scared. They’d be so disappointed and ashamed of me!
I was a ‘good girl, from a good Catholic family.’ This sort of thing didn’t happen to ‘good girls’!
My father literally screamed out in the middle of the main road ‘My 16-year-old daughter has had sex and now she is pregnant!’ and my mum, although supportive, became very sick from shock. At the time Dave’s Mum said I would never get an education and never have a career. Her words stayed with me for a good nine years of my life, it was hard to hear that as a 16-year-old pregnant girl. I understand now, that she was concerned for her son and didn’t know that someone in this situation could have a good future.
Do you have questions about pregnancy that you were too afraid to ask? Post continues after video.