Overview
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate of all developed countries. About 1 million teenagers become pregnant each year and 95 percent of those pregnancies are unintended. Of those unintended pregnancies, almost one-third end in abortion.
If you are a young woman who finds out that you are pregnant, there are a variety of options for you:
1. Have the baby and take care of it.
2. Have the baby and place the baby up for adoption.
3. Have the baby and have a foster parent care for it for a short time.
4. Have the baby and live with her parents.
5. Have an abortion (done by a doctor in a state where it is legal).
If you decide to have the baby and take care of it, this can mean a big change in your life. Having a baby can be wonderful, but it is also hard work and costs a lot of money. The support of the child's father and your parents helps, but you may have to do this alone. Ask if this is something you are prepared to do. You must also get prenatal health care (special health care during pregnancy) right away.
Adoption means that you and the baby's father have decided that you cannot take care of the baby, and an agency or private attorney places the baby with another family. This is the adoptive family. It is important to get accurate information about adoption laws in the country and state where you reside. This is what trained option counselors, or professional pregnancy counselors, can help you find out.
If you aren't ready for a baby now, but will be in a few months or years, you could find a foster parent to care for the baby for a short time. Foster care means the baby is cared for by another person while you get ready to raise the baby permanently. Foster care can be difficult to arrange and may not be available in some areas of the U.S.
If you can tell your parents, regardless of your decision, it is often helpful. Many parents will be upset at first, but they may find out eventually anyway. It is better not to try to hide the fact that you are pregnant.
Symptoms
You may be pregnant if you have had sexual intercourse and have the following symptoms:
• Missed period
• Short, scant period
• Sore, tender or swollen breasts
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Fatigue
• Frequent urge to urinate
• Mood swings
These symptoms most often don't occur until you have missed your period for about two weeks, but this varies from woman to woman. Symptoms can occur earlier for some women, sometimes just a week after a missed period. For more information on pregnancy symptoms, click here.
If you missed your period but have not taken a pregnancy test, don't assume you're pregnant. Continue to use contraception. Remember that the length of your menstrual cycle can vary.
If you have any or all of these symptoms, but don't want to go to a clinic yet, buy a home pregnancy test at any pharmacy. The test reacts to one of the many hormones in a woman's body. The hormone called HCG (human gonadotropic hormone) is in your body only when pregnant. Urine pregnancy tests are therefore designed to react with HCG after it is secreted into a pregnant woman's blood and urine. Many home pregnancy kits may be accurate as early as several days after a missed period.
Be sure to follow the test's directions when taking a home pregnancy test. You can use home pregnancy tests at any time of the day, but the urine is most concentrated in the morning. Be sure to refrain from aspirin use the day before and the day of the test.
Results can be one of two things:
1. Positive: Almost always means that you are pregnant. False positives (tests that says you are pregnant when you really are not) are very rare. Things that cause a false positive include marijuana, aspirin, hormones, birth control pills, methadone, tranquilizers and soap or protein in urine.
2. Negative: Usually means that you are not pregnant. False negatives (tests that say you are not pregnant when you are) are fairly common. This happens if it is too early in the pregnancy to get accurate results.
Treatment
Deciding what to do about an unplanned pregnancy can be difficult. An option counselor can help both women and girls with this decision. They will not make the decision or try to convince you to choose a particular course of action. Rather, they help all women decide for themselves.
These counselors have accurate information about all pregnancy options--having the baby, adoption, foster care and abortion. You do not need your parents' permission to talk with an options counselor, even if you are under 18. However, if you want to include your parents or partner in the decision, the options counselor can help.
If you believe that you have become pregnant within the past 24 to 48 hours but do not want to be pregnant, there is an emergency contraception method known as Plan B. It is FDA-approved and sold over the counter.
Prenatal care must be obtained soon after you find out that you are pregnant. It helps pregnant women stay healthy and have healthy babies. During prenatal visits you will have your blood and urine tested. You will also probably receive a prenatal vitamin to take every day. You also do not need parental permission to get prenatal care.
Prenatal care is especially important for teenagers, since teens are more likely to have a baby that weighs less than other babies at birth. Low-birth weight babies are more likely to have serious illnesses. An exam early in your pregnancy can help prevent this.
Teenagers are also more likely to eat improper foods during pregnancy. It is important to remember that whatever you eat, your baby eats, too. To have a healthy baby, you must also eat the right foods.
The same goes for alcohol use during pregnancy. If you drink any kind of alcohol, it reaches your baby right away. This can result in a baby born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Many babies with FAS are mentally retarded. Some have faces that don't look normal. Others have heart problems. Since even small amounts of alcohol can increase the risks of birth defects, the safest choice is to not drink at all during your pregnancy. After your baby is born, you should still avoid alcohol if you are breast-feeding.
Prevention
There are a variety of methods that can prevent pregnancy. The first is abstinence. However, if you do choose to have sex, there are a variety of contraceptives such as condoms, oral contraceptives or the Depo-Provera shot.
Ask Your Physician
Remember, you can be pregnant and have no symptoms at all except a missed period. If you have had sex without using birth control and are worried you might be pregnant, talk with a health care provider or with a counselor at your clinic.
If you use a home pregnancy test and suspect you are pregnant even though the results of the test are negative, you should have a pelvic exam by a GYN health care provider and blood test.
If you are going to continue your pregnancy, be sure to find a clinic or an obstetrician for prenatal care that you like and answers your questions.
If you want help quitting drugs, alcohol or cigarettes during pregnancy, talk to your health care provider or a local community support group.
