16 and Pregnant

On MTV there is a show called 16 and Pregnant. I have watched it for three seasons now. They also have a show Teen Mom, that shows us what these girls' loves have been like after the baby was born.

Last night was the final episode..It was about a girl, Ashley. She lives with just her mom and her sister and the guy she got pregnant by, wasn't around, typical.
Anyways, she was considering adoption. But the weird thing was it was her Aunt and Uncle who were adopting the baby. Ashley felt good for a while but when the questions were asked concerning what she wanted during and after delivery, she wanted to avoid the entire subject.
She had the baby, spent 48 hrs with the baby and her aunt and uncle took her home.(the baby) Ashley was so distraught that she went and picked up the baby and cared for her for a month..as a trial period. Her aunt and uncle were very supportive. (weird)

Finally, Ashley made the decision to give her up for adoption.

My own life has never lead me to give a child of mine up for adoption but I did reflect on my struggles as a young mom...
When I was 19 I gave birth to Jeff, 15 months later came Destiney. Jeff's biological has never been around and Destiney's dad has caused a lot of chaos. I was on welfare, my grandma watched Jeff, I lived in a tiny appartment above my landlord. The apartment had NO heating so I used the oven to warm up the place, and along with NO heating, there was NO cooler. It would get up to 110 degrees. But my rent was 300.00 and I had no one to turn to.

I worked 3 jobs at one point, The Jethawks Stadium, Mervyns, and Dress barn. It wasn't untill Destiney's grandpa got me a job working security at Edwards Air Force Base that I landed on my feet. I was making good money, enough money to get off welfare. I was so proud of myself. I did it! I felt strong again.

My kids are what i work so hard for. I want to be a person they can look up to, to learn from.

One of my regrets is I didn't have a camera to capture Jeff and Destiney's life as babies. :(