Former Southmoreland student Katie Balcerek grew accustomed to harsh, hurtful comments when news circulated about her pregnancy.
“That’s just wrong.”
“You’re life is ruined.”
“You’re a slut.”
“I feel bad for the baby.”
At age 15, Balcerek was only a freshman when she found out that she was going to be expecting a child. Now enrolled in cyber school, Balcerek is staying at home with her daughter to care for her while she studies to get her high school diploma.
Teenage pregnancy is a growing concern in many high schools across the country. According to teenhelp.com, the average number of pregnant teens in the United States is approximately 820,000. That means that 34 percent of teenagers in the U.S. will have a child before they turn 20; 79 percent of those teenagers are unmarried. Many teen parents usually do end up separated.
Teenhelp.com also claims that only one-third of the teenage parents actually finish high school and receive their diplomas.
Balcerek is fighting against those statistics due to the fact that she’s still in school and the father of the child, William Stein, is still in the picture.
“We work together as a team,” Balcerek said. “We always talk and help each other with the baby.”
Although Balcerek does not regret keeping her daughter and raising her, her pregnancy had not been easy.
Balcerek and Stein started dating in July and four months later Balcerek was sitting anxiously, waiting for her pregnancy test to give the results.
“I was excited because I get to be a mother of a bundle of joy,” Balcerek said. “But I was nervous because I am young.”
Stein was the first person that she told about the news.
“The day I took the test, he was there,” Balcerek said. “That morning I woke up and took the test, I went into the room crying when I told him that he’s going to be a daddy. We cried together in joy.”
The happy tears soon ended when Balcerek realized that she still had to tell her parents. Balcerek said that she knew that Stein would be happy with the results, but she thought that her parents were going to be upset with her.
Then the day came that Balcerek had to tell her parents.
“We sat down and discussed how everything is going to be different,” Balcerek said. “I can’t go out with friends anymore, I have to stay home and be with the baby, and we just talked about how everything is going to change.”
Balcerek’s grandmother wasn’t as understanding.
“She thought it was the worst thing that could happen.”
There were also some friends and plenty of strangers that Balcerek had that didn’t take to kindly to her being pregnant.
“They called me names and said they felt bad for the unborn child,” Balcerek said. “It hurt because my “friends” were some of the people to say stuff. My real friends are the ones who still talk to me even though I don’t go to school anymore and have a baby.”
Snide remarks and taunts weren’t the only thing that Balcerek had to deal with; she still had to go through morning sickness and swelling. “My favorite part about the pregnancy was feeling her kick and move,” Balcerek said.
The day she went into labor, Balcerek was more excited than anything.
“My baby was finally coming and I get to finally hold her and love her,” she said. “It was the best moment of my life. I thought, that’s my baby girl. The pride and joy. My life and future.”
The day Balcerek took her little girl home; she couldn’t have imagined it any other way. She’s living her life as a family and her relationship with Stein stayed strong, as he is around to care for his daughter as well. Living with no regrets, Balcerek learns to deal with the remarks on her having a child and sticks strongly to the fact that her baby did not ruin her life, it made it better.
“They’re wrong, having a baby is joy and it’s not ruining my life,” Balcerek said. “It’s a new chapter for me in life.”