Hall of Infinite Doors
You tell your parents that you want to keep the baby. Your mother lets out a happy squeal and hugs you close, talking about how happy you've made her, how she's just so glad that she gets to be a grandmother and that there'll be another baby for her to love. Your father is less pleased. He mentions, again and again and increasingly agitated each time, how the family simply doesn't have the money to raise another child. It seems the more your mother expresses her joy at your decision, the more angry your father gets. By the time the conversation ends, you're left feeling a strange soup of emotions - both elated at having made this final choice, and worried terribly about the future.
You know that whatever happens and whatever hardships you may come across, this baby is yours. It seems that every hour you know that this child is growing inside you, you grow more to identify and love it. Yes, you're young - yes, raising this baby by yourself is going to be an ordeal - and yes, it may take opportunities away from you - but you can't just abandon it. You want your baby to grow up knowing who their real mother is.
You take the day off school to ruminate on your decision. You find you have a great resource for the coming months in your mother. Having birthed and raised three kids, she's an absolute treasure trove of information on how to take care of both yourself and your child growing inside you. She's full of careful predictions about what will happen to you and your body as well as surprisingly wise advice on how to deal with the hectic early days of motherhood. She reminds you that no matter what your father says, you'll always have her support and help. You can't help but feel intensely relieved.
Still, you can't just discard what your father has been saying. The truth is, he's right - you don't have enough money to raise a child on your own, and you shouldn't expect your family to foot the entire bill. You're going to have to start working, either full or part-time, or you're going to have to find some other way to get the money you need to raise your kid. You're lucky in that you have excellent health insurance - your mother always saw to that - and you don't have to worry about how you're actually going to have the kid. But everything after - all that pressure falls on you.
You know that whatever happens and whatever hardships you may come across, this baby is yours. It seems that every hour you know that this child is growing inside you, you grow more to identify and love it. Yes, you're young - yes, raising this baby by yourself is going to be an ordeal - and yes, it may take opportunities away from you - but you can't just abandon it. You want your baby to grow up knowing who their real mother is.
You take the day off school to ruminate on your decision. You find you have a great resource for the coming months in your mother. Having birthed and raised three kids, she's an absolute treasure trove of information on how to take care of both yourself and your child growing inside you. She's full of careful predictions about what will happen to you and your body as well as surprisingly wise advice on how to deal with the hectic early days of motherhood. She reminds you that no matter what your father says, you'll always have her support and help. You can't help but feel intensely relieved.
Still, you can't just discard what your father has been saying. The truth is, he's right - you don't have enough money to raise a child on your own, and you shouldn't expect your family to foot the entire bill. You're going to have to start working, either full or part-time, or you're going to have to find some other way to get the money you need to raise your kid. You're lucky in that you have excellent health insurance - your mother always saw to that - and you don't have to worry about how you're actually going to have the kid. But everything after - all that pressure falls on you.