A Mother's Choice: How I Decided to Be a Young Mom and Kept My Baby

I was barely nineteen. Not much older than he is now.  I was faced with a decision that would not only affect me, but a decision that would directly affect the lives of two others and that would create a ripple, affecting countless others. I knew almost right away. Several negative pregnancy tests did nothing to alleviate the nagging suspicion of what I already realized. 

A Mother's Choice: How I Decided to Be a Young Mom and Kept My Baby

I was a sophomore in college.  I had a future and nothing but possibilities in front of me. And now, I was faced with a decision that felt like it would limit my future and hinder those possibilities. I came back to school after a long Christmas break with a secret. In one hand I physically held a list of phone numbers.  People that would allow this "problem" to be silently swept under the rug. A moral dilemma was raging.  I had concrete beliefs about how I felt about abortion, but I would be lying if I didn't tell you that in this situation, cracks were forming in that belief system.    I was fortunate to know that the man who was in this situation with me was the man I had already planned on spending the rest of my life with.  I received that first positive test and then confirmed it with another and tearfully called my boyfriend. "We will get through this," he said.  I think back on those five little words and find so much comfort in them. I know a lot of women in the same situation hear "it's your choice." In different circumstances, those words are very empowering.  In a situation like this, they are the three loneliest words you can hear. It's been seventeen years since I had to make the hardest decision of my life.  We were gathered together, three families around a large table.  The hostess gave us the task of saying one thing that we were thankful for. I don't know if he said it in a flippant way, but when the time came for my son to answer what he was thankful for he said: "I'm thankful for my life." He had no idea the weight that those words carried for me. I have never regretted my decision to carry my son to term.  In fact, more often than not, I am reminded of how thankful I am that I made that decision.  I became a mom far sooner than I ever expected, but sometimes, those unexpected bumps in the road provide us with the most blessings.

I love you my Aidan T. Tyler! love, Mom