On my schedule today was "new OB". I really like OB patients- partnering with someone for 9 months, mostly healthy and happy. As I was getting ready to enter the room I glanced at her age - and did a double take- 14. 14 years old?! 8th grader? C'mon.
There was no mistake, in the room sat a very young girl, hair in braids, up in these pig tale things. A couple earrings in each ear, tight jeans and trendy shoes. The other woman in the room was grandmother. "where's your mom?" I asked. "she's actually here in the hospital, she just delivered a baby last night- a new brother" Oh great! I'm sure her mom was thrilled to learn as she went into labor 2 nights ago, that her eldest, her 14 year old, was also pregnant.
I kicked grandma out the door to talk one on one with my patient. Believe it or not, although she has a boyfriend, age 15, they had only slept together one time. "only takes once" is the sound bite that began to play in my head, not needing to state the obvious, we moved on to planning.
I often have people ask - what's the youngest you've seen pregnant. I know our clinic has seen a 13 year old, whose mother was actually 26 (history repeats itself). And an Ob/Gyn doc I worked with had a 9 year old deliver a baby... unfortunately the 9 year old had been abused. And just today working in peds- a girl who got pregnant at age 10 just delivered this week- her boyfriend is 13 and it was consensual, and they plan to raise the baby. The correct answer: it gets younger every year.
At 14 the scope of my concerns were remembering to wear the right uniform for home basket ball games, deciding whether to get chocolate chip cookies or a nutter butter bar at lunch for dessert, attempting to say a nervous hello to my latest crush, and trying to sell more candy than my best friend while fundraising for mission trips. Real similar worries to raising a child...
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