Bethanie’s first e-mail to me included this line: “I’m 20 and have a 7 month old baby girl. I delivered her at home, unassisted with only her father and a friend there.”
Read that again: “I delivered her at home, unassisted with only her father and a friend there.”
Wow. If that wasn’t a hell of an opening, I don’t know what is. Bethanie is smart, resilient and one heck of a mama. I’m so glad she reached out to me. Here are some words from Bethanie herself:
1) What was your situation when you had your baby girl? Were you in school? Working? Dating? Engaged? Were you happy about becoming a mom?
I was living with my spousal equivalent [boyfriend sounds so...childish, haha] and planning on starting college that fall. I was working as a delivery driver for a pizza place, which wasn’t ideal, but it paid the bills, however minimally.
When I first found out I was pregnant I was very apprehensive. I wasn’t sure if I was happy, sad, excited or what. I was only 19 and I didn’t know how I was going to manage having a baby.
2) What advice would you give other young moms? Any thing you wish you had done differently?
Advice is a tricky thing because everyones parenting ideas are so drastically different. I guess if I had to give some advice, I would say don’t be afraid to baby your babies! So many people seem to think that if you hold your baby, “too much” or tend to their wants/needs that the baby will get, “spoiled.” But babies are made to be clingy, it’s a survival instinct. If you baby your babies when they’re babies, then you won’t need to baby them anymore when they aren’t.
I don’t think that I would do anything differently, I love the way my baby is growing and I love our closeness and how we live. It’s pure, simple.
3) Your dreams for the future. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope to go to midwifery school sometime in the next few years to help other women like me have the births that they want. I couldn’t find a midwife while I was pregnant because I had Medicaid which meant that they would get paid less than what they generally charged. I also hope to be chasing around a happy, healthy almost 11 year old! Beyond that I’m not sure where I’ll end up just yet, life is very tricky and unpredictable like that 
Hell of an opening, indeed! WOWZERS! Bethanie is going to make an incredible midwife, no doubt! I love that she said she wouldn’t do anything differently — Go, Bethanie!
……WOW!!!
Go Bethanie!!!! Shining bright is an excellent title and choice of words for encouragement. I too, had a child early in life at the age of 20. Needless to say I completed college with a B.S. Information Technology at the age of 27. with minimal assistance. There is power in prayer in times of need.