Youngest labor patient?

Mama Val, ASN, RN · May 20, 2005

Had a 13 y/o come in from a drug treatment facility, she didn't even know who trhe Dad was. In the 2 days that she was there 2 men and 1 boy (wasn't even shaving yet) were given the tour by her to see her baby. While she was waiting on the DNA she was comparing the baby with the possible Dads to see who looked close enough to be the grand prize winner. What a freak show....:uhoh21:

k_cole21 · May 20, 2005

youngest in our hospital was 9 years old...mentally retarded...abuse of course. very sad. i had a 16 year old the other day & she asked me how young was the youngest i'd heard of....i told her 9 yers old....she said she didnt even know a 9 year old could have a baby....i immediately understood why she was there.

lucky4timesover · May 20, 2005

Hi, I just wanted to say that I was 18 when I had my first child. I am now 24 and I have three beautiful and amazing little boys. My husband and I have been together since I was 14. We were married 6 months after high school graduation when I turned 18 (not bc I was pg then). I know that most of you moms are having fits right now, lol. We got married young bc we truly felt that we needed to be. Not for anyone else, but for each other. Mike and I are often called old souls. Our idea of a date was hanging out with our families and every once in a while catching a movie with friends. We made a conscience choice to have our children young. Mike has a medical condition that requires medication which may make us unable to have children later. I had amazing nurses during my L&D. While I have no desire to work in that area once I graduate next year, they did show me what a great nurse was. When I was in school we had a girl who was 12 give birth. She went on to have 3 more children by the time she was 20 and she has custody of none of them. When I first saw this thread it definitely touched home with me. While I know I am by far not the youngest many people still thought we were too young to have our child. Our family were the main ones. As a mother it scares me to death to think of my boys being fathers at 18. I know that my boys will never know how hard it was for us at first. I am a SAHM outside of school, so we definitely made sacrifices so that we could give the best we could to our children. More often than not I was judged for staying home with our children. My husband and I have NEVER taken one dime of public assistance, but when people saw our age and me at home that made ridiculous assumptions about our home situation. Hubby works 12 hour days at an incredible job so that I can stay home and go to school full time. I guess that I just wanted to say that maybe I was young, but I know I had great reasons to have my children when I did. My life has been amazing, but I know that it is not the norm. I truly feel for teenage moms who have no support and no good way to support their child. I also agree that teen pregnancy has been glossed over to look appealing to younger children. I am amazed that these kids at 13-16 find the time to have sex. I was too busy with school with sports, class officer, student council, and other extras to be concerned with sex then. My parents would have killed us too. While I am happy with my choices, I truly pray every night that my boys NEVER, EVER make the same ones. Our situation was very unique and I doubt they will luck into it.

rn2binca · May 20, 2005

Um YEAH, I've thought that. Did I forget to mention that the step dad was the father of the 12 year old's baby? Hello, statutory rape! Authorities get called and social services gets involved. We don't take these things lightly, believe me. It is haunting and something that will stay with me until the day that I die.
But to pretend that some teenagers don't romanticize the notion of childbearing is just being unrealistic. I have seen it. I've had a teenage mom just gushing over the fact that this baby will increase her paycheck and she can still go to school and her and the dad can get married and the baby will be so cute and he'll look after it while she goes to university and her friends are all so jealous! A year later, things look a little different for most. It's still possible to go to university and get married and have a great life, but that doesn't mean we should pretend it will be easy. Having a baby at 14 will make things a lot harder. That's the reality.
I don't lecture or anything (cause it's too late once they are pregnant and that isn't my job), but I do think societal attitudes do need to change in an effort to prevent these pregnancies in the first place.

I'm sorry but statutory rape also think of incest. That 'step-father' was a father figure to her. I beg all of you to slow down with that teenage girl and LOOK and ASK if you have to about the girl's life. She may indeed be in a sex abuse situation. It is true that 1 in 3 women will be the victim of some sort of sexual abuse in her lifetime. We may not, as nurses be able to help many of these girls, but for me if I could get just one out of an abusive situation I would feel proud.

NOW for the teens who are not in the above category, how do we help them avoid another pregnancy? How do we teach them to make something of themselves?

It horrifies me and makes me saddened. :crying2:

Tracy

OBRN2004 · May 20, 2005

I was in nursing school at the time.This situation was similar to many of those mentioned in this thread. She was 9 and raped by her stepfather. She labored for many, many hours, went complete, but wasn't able to push the baby out. She of course had a csection, partly because her 9 year old body wasn't really equipped for delivering a baby. She was so scared and screamed the entire time. She said she wasn't in pain, but she continued to scream throughout delivery and then into recovery. It was one of the most awful situations I have been involved in. Her mother was very supportive and quite hurt, as the 9 year old didn't tell her mom who the baby's dad was until social work questioned her at admission. The whole family was distraught. Just horrible. I often wonder how/what she is doing these days.

witnurse · May 20, 2005

I just feel like weeping today regarding what our teens think they know and what they are doing. This is a little graphic so those who don't want to read anything graphic, go no further.
Our local public school lost funding for a full-time school nurse and so we occasionally have a "traveling" nurse. Recently she was here to talk with the girls and discuss STD's and prevention. She was shocked at the response of quite a few girls who told her privately that they were practicing safe sex and couldn't get STD's or pregnant because they were engaged in anal sex. Well, I knew that oral sex had become all the rage in our junior high and high school as a way to combat pregnancy but anal sex? The nurse quickly explained things to the girls who were surprised.
Ok, what happened to learning history, math, english, social studies, driver's ed, science, etc.? What happened to being an athlete, being in the band, singing in the choir, starring in plays, belonging to the chess club, writing for the school newspaper, serving as a student representative on the local school board, going on field trips? How do our kids find the time to engage in a sexual act that I knew nothing about until I was in college?
Yep, our kids know more but don't know more. And why are our girls putting up with this?
Breaks my heart that kids don't have a childhood anymore . . . . .Deb, I'm about to send my 14 year old daughter into high school here . ... and am so torn. She loves sports and is good at them. If I homeschool her as you do your son, the local schoolboard says she cannot play sports even if I homeschool her through the highschool program. Do I sacrifice her love of sports or do I sacrifice her to the will of boys who don't give a damn about her? I realize I can continue to teach her right from wrong and hope she will be strong enough to care more about herself than that. But it is almost like throwing her to the wolves. Girls get such negative messages about themselves. And what are the parents of boys doing to teach them to respect women?
My mind is spinning . .. .
steph

If you are a resident and tax payer in your town they can not prevent your child from playing sports or taking music or arts class or anything else offerred. Fight this HARD. I am so glad I homeschooled mine. I didn't want to throw them to the wolves. All 4 girls are now grown and happily married. I have 4 lovely grandchildren who were born when their mom's were adults. :)

Jolie, BSN · May 20, 2005

If you are a resident and tax payer in your town they can not prevent your child from playing sports or taking music or arts class or anything else offerred. Fight this HARD. I am so glad I homeschooled mine. I didn't want to throw them to the wolves. All 4 girls are now grown and happily married. I have 4 lovely grandchildren who were born when their mom's were adults. :)

witnurse,

This is an issue that is decided on the state and local level. There is no federal legislation that protects taxpayer's rights to homeschool and still participate in extra-curricular activities in the school district. There was recently a battle on this issue in the suburban Chicago area, and the legal ruling was that districts did not have to accept homeschool students into extracurricular activities, just as they don't have to accept students who opt to attend private schools, or students who are still school age, but have dropped out.

unknown99, BSN, RN · May 20, 2005

Just yesterday, a 12 year-old came in in labor. She had twins today... on the day she turned 13-years-old. grandma not a big help either.

SillyLilly · May 20, 2005

i feel sick after reading all of these previous posts......it hurts my heart

I am 22 years old, and i remember sex ed in hs and in grammar school clearly. and i went to Catholic schools... and only 1 time, do i remember love and self respect being emphazized in a sex ed class... only 1 time, in 7th grade. in all the health classes and lectures we had, i do not remember any other time that love vs infatuation, or self respect was taught.

what we were taught, was that were are not ready, and that we should use condoms. that is all i remember, vague.

from that one class, when i was in 7th grade, i remember this woman talking about how we are a rose, and how respecting ourselves reflects respecting the delicate rose, etc, you get it. and at the time, this was like, oh gosh lady, i am 12 years old, i dont want to hear about this.....

but today, i still remember that. and i feel if i had more of that in my life, that message would have been stronger and clearer.

so point is that i believe that we should be teaching love and respect to our youth, instead of telling them 'youre not ready to have a baby, use a condom, sex is wrong, or its only right if you do it this way'

having sex at such a young age is not the problem. its more of a symptom of a problem, and that is what needs to be fixed.

Danianne · May 20, 2005

Last month a covered a few shifts at my friends office (he is a pediatrician) anyways a mom brought her little girl in because she had been nauseated for the past MONTH any ways the little girl was 10 she had stared her period at the age of 7. my freind sent her for and ultrasound and lo abd behold a wee tiny heart beat!. So the girls mom totally freaks out!. the sad part is that the little girl had no idea how babies were made. the mom made the little girl go through with the pregnancy.

piscesgirl · May 20, 2005

Where i live this is a BIG problem. I can't drive anywhere without seeing some 13/14 year old girl with a stroller, but what really gets me about that is they are with a big group of other 13/14 year olds and smoking and wearing next to nothing. While i was in 6th grade, a girl had a baby, raised as her brother. When i graduated, 20 out of 80 people in my class had atleast one child and/ or pregnant. I also over heard a conversation at the nurses station at my highschool about a girl in 7th grade that was pregnant by her uncle, and her mother refused to let her have an adoption. That really disturbed me. We didn't really have sex ed in school. The health class just told you how babies were made and what stds are. When i made it to college the first class i took was Human Sexuality. How much i wish that class was available to middle and high schoolers. My mother had me 4 days before her 20th birthday. I grew up with a very short childhood, never knew my father until i was 8, and yet I gained the maturity and common sense watching what my mother did and realized i didn't want to ever be in her shoes. I lived with my grandmother most of the time. Eventually my mother overcame her addiction and became a mother to me again. Honestly she is very proud on how i raised myself and often gets complemented on how i turned out. My two step sisters both had their first baby at 15. The oldest one went on to marry her sons father, after the second was born, but eventually divorced him and has moved on to a wonderful man she is excitedly engaged to and has plans for a daughter. She also has plans to go to school and become a l&d nurse. The other one, has four kids, all a year apart, no steady job or boyfriend. So iv'e really had a chance to see both ends of the spectrum when it comes to young mothers.

witnurse · May 21, 2005

witnurse,
This is an issue that is decided on the state and local level. There is no federal legislation that protects taxpayer's rights to homeschool and still participate in extra-curricular activities in the school district. There was recently a battle on this issue in the suburban Chicago area, and the legal ruling was that districts did not have to accept homeschool students into extracurricular activities, just as they don't have to accept students who opt to attend private schools, or students who are still school age, but have dropped out.

Thank you for the information. In the three places that I have lived while homeschooling it was the way I described. I would still ask to address the school board and try to get it changed. That is too bad.

Eeyore