Although she's now in her 40s, one woman is reflecting on becoming a teen mom at 15-years-old. It was a scary and overwhelming experience.
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Miranda Ponthieux said that she didn't know she was pregnant. So, she ended up having a baby at home and tried to hide it from her family. The at the time 15-year-old said that she remained skinny throughout her pregnancy and dismissed any pregnancy symptoms.
She told her mom she wasn't feeling well one day. But her mom dismissed her pain.
She said, "I was not feeling well, my stomach still kept cramping, and I told my mom, and she was like, 'Oh, you're probably going to start your period'."I had a baby in my room, and I did not know what to do."I was like freaking out big time. I had this baby in my room, and I had no idea what to do with it."
The 15-year-old refused to believe that she could be pregnant and didn't mention it to her mother. Instead, the teen went to bed and suffered throughout the night. She skipped school the next day and ended up having the baby in her bed. The teen didn't know what to do. She ended up hiding her newborn under a car shelter and tried to pretend that a random stranger dropped it off.
15-Year-Old Tried To Hide Baby
"Nobody had any questions about it," she said. However, the 15-year-old suffered a guilty conscience about her baby and ended up telling her mom about it via a note. At the time, her baby was in state custody since the family thought it was a stranger's.
Miranda said, "Not a single person in the world knew for four days. When I was 15, I was sneaking out all the time with this guy who I had been friends with since kindergarten. We lived right down the road from each other and obviously, we were doing things that led to me getting pregnant. I didn't get big, I was so skinny, super, super skinny."
She continued, "I stayed that way but there were signs to me that I was pregnant, but I didn't get big, so I was like, 'Well I can't be'. It was a little girl, and I kept checking on her. She was in a closed basket full of clothes, and I made sure she was okay - I wrapped her up in a blanket, but I didn't know what to do."
Fortunately for the 15-year-old, her family ended up embracing her and showing her love. She realized she didn't have any reason to try to keep it a secret.