Fear turned to Joy!

Enjoy this Hope Clinic experience from one of our patients. When this was written our patient was 30 weeks pregnant.

“I am now 10 weeks away from my due date. A date that I may not have had without the support of Hope Clinic, and more specifically my care-coordinator. I feel like I can safely say most… if not all college girls… have had the thought, “what if I got pregnant”, but very few expect that thought to become a reality. I was in my second semester of nursing school (a month before final exams at that) when I took my pregnancy test, which, in fact, made that thought a reality. I would love to say that the second I saw those two pink lines pop up on the strip I knew exactly what I would do in regards to my pregnancy, but that is so far from the truth. I made a lot of pros and cons lists, and weighed out my options, but there was no amount of organizational list making that could help me make a decision in regards to what to do with my baby.

A few weeks after finding out I was pregnant I went to the clinic planning to get an ultrasound and hoping that a picture of my little baby would help me settle on the decision that I couldn’t seem to make. I did not go to the clinic looking for the advice or input of strangers, and I didn’t leave with advice or input either, but I did leave with judgment free education about all of my options. My care-coordinator helped me talk through my thoughts and concerns without feeling like I should be ashamed for considering anything other than raising my own baby. Walking out of the clinic that day was the first time I had felt any sense of “hope” about the situation since I took the test. About a week after my first visit to the clinic I returned with my boyfriend. Considering we had been dating for just 3 months before finding out we were expecting…. Decisions about our baby were not the easiest thing to communicate. The care-coordinator paved the way for me to properly express my thoughts to him, which enabled more honest communication and decision making about our baby.

Hope clinic did not decide for me or try and tell me what decision I should make, but they 100% had an impact on the way I made my decision. I absolutely never expected to get pregnant at 21 with a boyfriend of 3 months, while in nursing school, but here we are. Our baby boy is due December 27, 2018 – a date that once terrified me, but now fills my heart with joy."

Now her baby boy is 3 months old and this couple is doing great in their journey of parenthood.