The Beginning Of My Story.

        I'm Tiana Yazzie. Seventeen years young and live on the Navajo reservation, I am full Navajo.  I go to Holbrook High School, Holbrook is a small town located on the famous Route 66. I would not be the only one to say that Holbrook is a pretty small town but it is. People within the community may say that it sucks or it's boring but you know, it's part of us and it will always somehow be. 

      When I was a sophomore in High School I found myself pregnant. I did not once think it would happen to me, but it did. My boyfriend and I had been together for 2 years. But still that did not make it all right to have a baby at sixteen. How do two sixteen year olds raise a baby? That, of course was the big question to everybody. I was a volleyball player, a straight A student, and I hung out with friends the way teenagers do. 

      The day after I found out I was expecting I broke the news to my mom. My mom is a single parent, who was supporting my two sisters and I. how could I put more pressure on her? I did not think about all these questions till after I was pregnant, I could not take anything back. I couldn't get you know "Un-Pregnant." I was surprised with my mother's reaction to the news. There were a lot of tears, no hitting or yelling, but straight talking. I knew she was upset and afraid for me but she did not show it. She was a strong lady, and she showed it very well. I knew she would be with me every step of the way when she said, "Don't Be Sorry, Babies Are A Gift From God." 

      The days, weeks, and months into the pregnancy, the more real it became. My due date on, August 23, 2011.  Summer had arrived, my date coming closer and closer. I did not believe in abortion or adoption, He was my baby and I planned on raising him. I transferred my junior year of high school to be closer to my baby when he was born. I was not about to give up on school; I needed to get an education for him and myself. My boyfriend was doing his part in trying to earn money. He worked through out the entire summer. Saving money and getting ready for our soon baby boy. 

      Then the day came. Three days before my due date, the contractions began. The only thing to do was to walk to make the labor go by faster, it didn't help the contractions, they worsened as they came. After 19 long hours of contractions, it was time to push. As my little boy entered the world, the world seemed to have gotten brighter. I didn't think of myself as a teenager anymore, but as a mother. I had to watch over him, he was my responsibility. My boyfriend had stuck by my side; he was there through the labor and is still to this day raising our son. 

       I may have gotten through the labor but that was the easy part. I have so many things to overcome as a teenage mom. It's only the beginning.