Intro to Motherhood

**Warning!!! This is my first blog post and will be rather long, but quite informative!**

So you have come across my blog, welcome! Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Michelle and I am a 21 year old mommy of a beautiful little 2 year old girl named Brooklyn. This blog is going to be all about Motherhood and raising a toddler on a budget! If you are crunching the numbers like most people naturally do, you will have already figured out that I was in fact a teen mom! September of 2010 at the age of 18 I found out I was expecting...wait, let's rewind and give you some back story! 

Throughout high school I kept two jobs. My first was working a quaint cafe in my small town of 1000 people. I was 16 and so excited to finally have a job, even if it was washing dishes for a few months while the normal dish washer was focusing on basketball season! I worked after school and on the weekends and it was so nice to have my own money! When you are the middle sibling of 6 children "your own" is hard to come by. When basketball season was over, so was my job. 

The summer after my Junior year my best friend and I started a job at a local grocery store bagging groceries. Fast forward to Christmas time and I'm walking into the break room to clock in for work. I see a new guy eating his lunch and boy was he cute! He turned around when he heard me clocking in and said, "Hey my name is Andrew. What's yours?" I looked around, fully aware he was talking to me, but unwilling to actually believe it. "Oh, hi....I'm Michelle.", I finally sputtered out. "Nice to meet you. Guess how old I am!", he said. I just stared at him, and said "Oh, um 25?" He smiled and said "Good guess! I'll be 25 in July! How old are you?" I finally smiled and said, "Take a wild guess." He looked me up and down and finally said,"Hmm, 23?" I just laughed and he looked at me in disbelief as i said, "Actually i'll be 18 in 2 weeks."

I soon found out he had a a girl friend, but wasn't that dissapointed. I had other things to worry about, as my Mother was going through her second divorce and we had just moved out of our home a week before Christmas. My mom, little sister, little brother and I moved into a small 3 bedroom rental and I knew we were struggling. I didn't know how bad until a few months later. My mom was mowing the lawn and my sister and I were watching tv. We heard the lawn mower cut off and we looked out the window to see our Mother sitting on the ground, crying her eyes out. We ran out to see what was wrong and that's when she told us. "I'm so sorry. I can't afford to take care of you anymore." For me, it wasn't that big of a deal as I was graduating in a month, but what did that mean for my 13 year old little sister? "When your dad comes from your graduation next month, he's taking you two with him for the summer." I was devastated. This meant I had to move over 2000 miles away and lose my summer with my friends.

June came and I finally graduated high school. I messaged Andrew, who I had lost touch with due to his jealous girl friend. I told him I was moving and wouldn't see him for a while. My sister and I boarded a plane to Pennsylvania and had our first real adventure. I took a job working for my step mom's pay roll company. It was an in home job and I spent Monday-Friday in a small office with her. By early July she was driving me crazy and I told my dad I had to go back to Washington. They were mad, but a week later I boarded a Greyhound bus and took the 4 day bus ride from Pittsburgh, PA to Spokane, WA.

I knew my mom couldn't help me, so I moved in with some friends and got my job back at the grocery store. Andrew texted me and told me his girl friend and him had broken up. He asked me on a date and we went and saw "Despicable Me". My friend didn't agree with the relationship and I soon moved in with Andrew. Fast forward a couple months and here we are in September of 2010. I'm laying in bed feeling like death. I can't breathe and I feel like crap. My phone rings and I see it's the grocery store. "Hi Michelle. I was just wondering if you were coming in for your shift?" Oh no! I thought I worked tomorrow. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize I worked today. I'm so sick and I won't be able to make it!", I told my supervisor. "Okay, thanks for letting me know. Make sure you get a Dr.s note!", she said.

Andrew got home from work and I told him I needed to go to the Dr.s and get a Dr.s note. We walked the mile to the Ready Care and to this day I still can't remember what made me think, "When was my last period?" I wasn't sexually active before Andrew, so it wasn't something i really paid attention to. I walked in the Dr.s office and went to the check in desk. "How can I help you?", the woman asked. "Umm, I think I have a sinus infection and uh, could I get a pregnancy test done?"  I sat down and waited for my name to be called. Finally I was called back and I went to the room. Dr. looked and said, "definitely a sinus infection. I need to do your pregnancy test before I can order your medicine."

"Pee in this cup, please.", the Dr. said. Simple right? Not for me! I can't pee on command. I drank  6 cups of water before I could finally pee. We sat and waited for almost an hour before the Dr. finally came back. "Has anyone come back with your results yet?", she asked. I look over at Andrew who was asleep in the chair, "No, we are still waiting."

"Oh, sorry about that!", the Dr. said. "I have your results right here.You're pregnant. Congratulations." 
I never did get that Dr.s note for work, oops! 

--Michelle