My Birth Story
“A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” Agatha Christie quotes
Her First breath was taken on June Eighth Twenty Eleven, at two forty nine in the morning. Her beautiful cry filled my heart with many emotions that I had never felt before. I was more than happy when I heard the doctors say, “Congratulations It’s a girl!” My heart was full of confusion. I didn’t know if I should be happy because my new life was starting or because my old life was ending. The doctors asked with excitement “what’s her name?” I thought about it for a minute and said “Darlene.” “Darlene what”, they asked? I answered with a squeaky voice “Darlene Irigoyen.” When the doctor cleaned her, he brought her to me and as soon as I saw her I felt butterflies and immediately threw up. When they took her away from me, I felt like I was in a bad dream for a second. It was hard to see with tears in my eyes. From the second I first saw her she became everything to me, and for a second it felt like they were taking my everything away from me.
Of course there would be no Darlene without my baby daddy Juan.
December 12, 2009 was a very important day for me, not only because it was my birthday, but it was also the day I met my baby daddy.
At the time I was turning 15. I didn’t know much about life, but yet I thought I knew it all.
I met someone who was perfect in my eyes at the time. I only knew him for a couple of days until we actually started dating on December 16, 2009. That was the day Juan asked me to be his girl. I liked him a lot, even though I had barely met him, I said yes to him anyway.
We dated for 6 months before I decided to lose my virginity to him. I took things very serious with him a couple months later I thought I wanted to have a baby and was ready for the responsibility, I tried getting pregnant and I didn’t.
A month or two later I realized I really wasn’t ready to be a mom, but it was too late.
September 2nd was the day I stopped getting my period. At first I was in denial. I kept telling myself “I’ll get it tomorrow.” My period never came.
I never thought about telling my mom because I thought my period was just a little late. I pulled off the denial until I told a couple of my best friends what was going on. They freaked out and convinced me along with two other girls to go get a pregnancy test. We went to Rite Aid to get the test. We went into the bathroom there and took the test. I waited a couple minutes until my smile turned into a frown, I looked at the pregnancy test. It had a little positive sign. My eyes got watery. I had a knot in my throat and it became hard to breath. I told my friends what had happened and all they said was, “OH SHIT WHAT YOU GUNNA DO?” all I said was “Chill its bull shit, not all tests really work!” I thought I would just wait and take another pregnancy test because I thought the results were wrong. When I took the second test I still couldn’t believe the results. I kept getting the same answer. Finally the third time I was almost convinced. I told my math teacher about what I was going through and she told me I had to get on some weird vitamins and she wrote it down on a piece of paper. I put it in my pocket so I wouldn’t forget.
The next day I was on my way to school and suddenly my phone started vibrating I answered and it was my mom and she was like “KAREN are you pregnant?” in a quivery voice I said “nah mom why?” and she said “Well, I just found a paper that has written down some prenatal vitamins.” “Mom those are my friends” was the only answer she got back until she told me she was going to take me to Planned Parenthood. I agreed and finally told her the truth. All day I thought and thought about what was going to happen at 1:30. I called my mom and told her to come pick me up from school and she did. I made an appointment at Planned Parenthood and my mom and aunt took me. I filled out all the papers and about thirty minutes later they called me to the back. I took a pregnancy test, and then sat down in a room with my mom and the nurse. The nurse looked at the pregnancy results and said, “Honey, congratulations sweetie”, there was a moment of silence and then I just broke down in tears with my mom.
I told her with tears in my eyes in the squeakiest voice ever “I’m so scared” she hugged me and said “every things going to be okay” but it sure didn’t feel like it was going to be. When I calmed down the lady explained to us what could happen and choices I had. I wasn’t to far along yet, and she told me about an abortion pill I could take on Wednesday. I had only 1 day and a couple of hours to think about what I wanted to do. I told her to sign me up for Wednesday. I cried that whole day and night, before I knew it, it was time to get up and go to school. I talked to my friends and they all had something to say and I knew in the end it was up to me. I called my mom after lunch and asked her what she thought, without giving her a chance to talk I told her that I wanted my baby because it was the right thing to do but I was still unsure. She was proud, a week passed by and I was sure of what I wanted. I chose to keep my baby, and I chose to raise a child even though I was a child myself.
Days continued to pass, my belly continued to grow. School got so difficult for me the councilors decided that Glenwood Springs High School wasn’t working for me very well. That’s when I heard about the Yampah Mountain High School Teen Parent Program. I didn’t wait much until I moved to Yampah and met some of the most incredible people there. They supported me through everything and my advisor Sally became more then my teacher and friend, she became more like a mom. She saw me grow up and stood by me through all the silly mistakes I made.
I was due may 31st and I got out of school on may 24th, not knowing when I was going to give birth. Throughout the pregnancy, most of the time I felt like I was okay and everything seemed to be fine. I passed my due date and there was no sign that I was going to give birth any time soon.
However, June 7th I called my baby daddy, who lived in Rifle at the time, and told him that I felt like something was wrong. All he said was “I’m on my way” He got to me in about 20 minutes. We arrived at the hospital at 9:00a.m. My baby wasn’t moving at all. When we got there they put me in a room and they were monitoring me and as soon as they told me I was going to get an ultrasound my baby started kicking. But when I laid down she stopped moving again and that’s when they told me they had to induce me right away. I wasn’t ready for that, and they gave me a robe. I went and changed in the bathroom and I stayed there for about five minutes crying. I was so scared! I came out of the bathroom like nothing had happened and lay back down. The nurses made me sign some papers. After I finished all the paper work I was asking for food. I knew I wasn’t going to eat for a while, I was right, they said ”no” so I was really grumpy.
They started me on an I.V. and about thirty minutes later I started getting contractions. The pain started out like little cramps and I kept thinking it wasn’t getting any worse. I lasted eleven hours without getting any medications until I chose to get an epidural, for those who don’t know what that is, it’s a big needle that goes in your spinal cord and it just makes you numb from the stomach down. Around eight thirty or so they told me “Karen your ready to push.”
I started pushing and all I could think of was how I couldn’t give up. I had come so far along my daughters birth I couldn’t give up now. After two exhausting hours of pushing they brought in a mirror and I could see my babies little hair and head. I remember they told me to stop pushing and to start pushing again. They let me take a break. I remember I had apologized to my mom about how she was so right. I had realized all the pain and sacrifice she had gone through for me. After the little break I took, before I knew it, I had to start pushing again; I pushed for about three more hours until they finally told me it wasn’t going so good. They kept repeating that it wasn’t my fault but my baby was way to big to fit. Every time I would push my baby would stop breathing. That’s when I started to worry. The doctor said, ”Karen we’re very sorry but we’re afraid your baby’s not going to make it if you keep pushing.” After all that pushing I was exhausted and they finally announced I needed an emergency c-section.
They took like thirty to forty five minutes to get everything ready as soon as they did they told me I had to choose only one person to go with me inside the room where they we’re going to be performing surgery on me. I felt like I had to choose my baby’s dad because he is the father of my daughter and at the time I thought I was in love, so I chose him. He put on this blue, funny looking uniform and went in the room with me. I was so scared but at the same time I was too drugged to even say anything. They started cutting open my stomach and I could have sworn I felt it when they opened me up. I felt them pulling out my baby and for a second there was absolute silence.
They announced, “It’s two forty-nine in the morning, on June eighth and you have a beautiful baby girl. ” After the doctor said that I heard my baby’s first cry. Her cry sounded like music to my ears.
That day completely changed my perspective on life and the way I think. I never knew my love was ever going to be so big for anyone! That little girl who was born on June eighth stole my heart without even trying. She is my world and for her I’d go through hell and back just to be with her. Even though I had Darlene at a young age I don’t regret it because with out her my life would be so different, it gets me so sad that I ever thought about abortion and adoption because now I can’t picture life without her. I’m going through a lot of things a normal teenager wouldn't go through but I am so proud to say I'm a mommy of a beautiful little girl. Life is a bit harder because now I have to think twice before I make a choice. All the decisions I make affect my daughter as well. For the first time in my life I experienced the feeling of having my heart walk outside me, She’s the biggest blessing I have ever received and no matter how mad she makes me I won’t ever give up on her. Darlene made me so strong and so mature. I know that without her I would be getting in so much trouble. I’m so grateful to have that little angel in my life.
“A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” Agatha Christie quotes
Her First breath was taken on June Eighth Twenty Eleven, at two forty nine in the morning. Her beautiful cry filled my heart with many emotions that I had never felt before. I was more than happy when I heard the doctors say, “Congratulations It’s a girl!” My heart was full of confusion. I didn’t know if I should be happy because my new life was starting or because my old life was ending. The doctors asked with excitement “what’s her name?” I thought about it for a minute and said “Darlene.” “Darlene what”, they asked? I answered with a squeaky voice “Darlene Irigoyen.” When the doctor cleaned her, he brought her to me and as soon as I saw her I felt butterflies and immediately threw up. When they took her away from me, I felt like I was in a bad dream for a second. It was hard to see with tears in my eyes. From the second I first saw her she became everything to me, and for a second it felt like they were taking my everything away from me.
Of course there would be no Darlene without my baby daddy Juan.
December 12, 2009 was a very important day for me, not only because it was my birthday, but it was also the day I met my baby daddy.
At the time I was turning 15. I didn’t know much about life, but yet I thought I knew it all.
I met someone who was perfect in my eyes at the time. I only knew him for a couple of days until we actually started dating on December 16, 2009. That was the day Juan asked me to be his girl. I liked him a lot, even though I had barely met him, I said yes to him anyway.
We dated for 6 months before I decided to lose my virginity to him. I took things very serious with him a couple months later I thought I wanted to have a baby and was ready for the responsibility, I tried getting pregnant and I didn’t.
A month or two later I realized I really wasn’t ready to be a mom, but it was too late.
September 2nd was the day I stopped getting my period. At first I was in denial. I kept telling myself “I’ll get it tomorrow.” My period never came.
I never thought about telling my mom because I thought my period was just a little late. I pulled off the denial until I told a couple of my best friends what was going on. They freaked out and convinced me along with two other girls to go get a pregnancy test. We went to Rite Aid to get the test. We went into the bathroom there and took the test. I waited a couple minutes until my smile turned into a frown, I looked at the pregnancy test. It had a little positive sign. My eyes got watery. I had a knot in my throat and it became hard to breath. I told my friends what had happened and all they said was, “OH SHIT WHAT YOU GUNNA DO?” all I said was “Chill its bull shit, not all tests really work!” I thought I would just wait and take another pregnancy test because I thought the results were wrong. When I took the second test I still couldn’t believe the results. I kept getting the same answer. Finally the third time I was almost convinced. I told my math teacher about what I was going through and she told me I had to get on some weird vitamins and she wrote it down on a piece of paper. I put it in my pocket so I wouldn’t forget.
The next day I was on my way to school and suddenly my phone started vibrating I answered and it was my mom and she was like “KAREN are you pregnant?” in a quivery voice I said “nah mom why?” and she said “Well, I just found a paper that has written down some prenatal vitamins.” “Mom those are my friends” was the only answer she got back until she told me she was going to take me to Planned Parenthood. I agreed and finally told her the truth. All day I thought and thought about what was going to happen at 1:30. I called my mom and told her to come pick me up from school and she did. I made an appointment at Planned Parenthood and my mom and aunt took me. I filled out all the papers and about thirty minutes later they called me to the back. I took a pregnancy test, and then sat down in a room with my mom and the nurse. The nurse looked at the pregnancy results and said, “Honey, congratulations sweetie”, there was a moment of silence and then I just broke down in tears with my mom.
I told her with tears in my eyes in the squeakiest voice ever “I’m so scared” she hugged me and said “every things going to be okay” but it sure didn’t feel like it was going to be. When I calmed down the lady explained to us what could happen and choices I had. I wasn’t to far along yet, and she told me about an abortion pill I could take on Wednesday. I had only 1 day and a couple of hours to think about what I wanted to do. I told her to sign me up for Wednesday. I cried that whole day and night, before I knew it, it was time to get up and go to school. I talked to my friends and they all had something to say and I knew in the end it was up to me. I called my mom after lunch and asked her what she thought, without giving her a chance to talk I told her that I wanted my baby because it was the right thing to do but I was still unsure. She was proud, a week passed by and I was sure of what I wanted. I chose to keep my baby, and I chose to raise a child even though I was a child myself.
Days continued to pass, my belly continued to grow. School got so difficult for me the councilors decided that Glenwood Springs High School wasn’t working for me very well. That’s when I heard about the Yampah Mountain High School Teen Parent Program. I didn’t wait much until I moved to Yampah and met some of the most incredible people there. They supported me through everything and my advisor Sally became more then my teacher and friend, she became more like a mom. She saw me grow up and stood by me through all the silly mistakes I made.
I was due may 31st and I got out of school on may 24th, not knowing when I was going to give birth. Throughout the pregnancy, most of the time I felt like I was okay and everything seemed to be fine. I passed my due date and there was no sign that I was going to give birth any time soon.
However, June 7th I called my baby daddy, who lived in Rifle at the time, and told him that I felt like something was wrong. All he said was “I’m on my way” He got to me in about 20 minutes. We arrived at the hospital at 9:00a.m. My baby wasn’t moving at all. When we got there they put me in a room and they were monitoring me and as soon as they told me I was going to get an ultrasound my baby started kicking. But when I laid down she stopped moving again and that’s when they told me they had to induce me right away. I wasn’t ready for that, and they gave me a robe. I went and changed in the bathroom and I stayed there for about five minutes crying. I was so scared! I came out of the bathroom like nothing had happened and lay back down. The nurses made me sign some papers. After I finished all the paper work I was asking for food. I knew I wasn’t going to eat for a while, I was right, they said ”no” so I was really grumpy.
They started me on an I.V. and about thirty minutes later I started getting contractions. The pain started out like little cramps and I kept thinking it wasn’t getting any worse. I lasted eleven hours without getting any medications until I chose to get an epidural, for those who don’t know what that is, it’s a big needle that goes in your spinal cord and it just makes you numb from the stomach down. Around eight thirty or so they told me “Karen your ready to push.”
I started pushing and all I could think of was how I couldn’t give up. I had come so far along my daughters birth I couldn’t give up now. After two exhausting hours of pushing they brought in a mirror and I could see my babies little hair and head. I remember they told me to stop pushing and to start pushing again. They let me take a break. I remember I had apologized to my mom about how she was so right. I had realized all the pain and sacrifice she had gone through for me. After the little break I took, before I knew it, I had to start pushing again; I pushed for about three more hours until they finally told me it wasn’t going so good. They kept repeating that it wasn’t my fault but my baby was way to big to fit. Every time I would push my baby would stop breathing. That’s when I started to worry. The doctor said, ”Karen we’re very sorry but we’re afraid your baby’s not going to make it if you keep pushing.” After all that pushing I was exhausted and they finally announced I needed an emergency c-section.
They took like thirty to forty five minutes to get everything ready as soon as they did they told me I had to choose only one person to go with me inside the room where they we’re going to be performing surgery on me. I felt like I had to choose my baby’s dad because he is the father of my daughter and at the time I thought I was in love, so I chose him. He put on this blue, funny looking uniform and went in the room with me. I was so scared but at the same time I was too drugged to even say anything. They started cutting open my stomach and I could have sworn I felt it when they opened me up. I felt them pulling out my baby and for a second there was absolute silence.
They announced, “It’s two forty-nine in the morning, on June eighth and you have a beautiful baby girl. ” After the doctor said that I heard my baby’s first cry. Her cry sounded like music to my ears.
That day completely changed my perspective on life and the way I think. I never knew my love was ever going to be so big for anyone! That little girl who was born on June eighth stole my heart without even trying. She is my world and for her I’d go through hell and back just to be with her. Even though I had Darlene at a young age I don’t regret it because with out her my life would be so different, it gets me so sad that I ever thought about abortion and adoption because now I can’t picture life without her. I’m going through a lot of things a normal teenager wouldn't go through but I am so proud to say I'm a mommy of a beautiful little girl. Life is a bit harder because now I have to think twice before I make a choice. All the decisions I make affect my daughter as well. For the first time in my life I experienced the feeling of having my heart walk outside me, She’s the biggest blessing I have ever received and no matter how mad she makes me I won’t ever give up on her. Darlene made me so strong and so mature. I know that without her I would be getting in so much trouble. I’m so grateful to have that little angel in my life.
Darlene Marquez
There are some things in life I don’t care about but there are things in this world that mean everything to me and give me great hope like my baby girl Darlene.
Darlene changed my life for the better; she opened up my eyes to a whole new world and gave me new feelings I had never ever felt before. The smile on her face makes me want to be successful and the tears she cries push me to be a better mommy and a better person.
Growing up I was raised by both of my parents, as the time went by I started to realize we weren’t a happy family as we pretended to be. My mom hasn’t ever been the type of mom to show me affection or anything, Don’t get it wrong I know she loves me, she stuck with me through everything, all my courts, my pregnancy and all my tantrums. I started growing and opening my eyes so I started realizing how ugly this world really is. I started doing bad in school, smoking, drinking and wanting to fit in with people who wouldn’t behave well. When I was 14 and a half I ran away I guess it was like a tantrum too. I ran away twice until I turned 15 and a half I got pregnant.
On June 8th 2011 Darlene Marquez took her first breath and stole my heart.
She gave me a great reason to smile and hope for a better future.
She became my everything right the moment I saw her and she’s the reason why I’m here right now. My life gets hectic at times and there's day where my frustration wants to take over me and then I see her beautiful big eyes and her curly brown hair and she manages to keep me sane. Without her life wouldn’t be worth much to me, since she taught me patience, she taught me how to forgive and what being scared for someone else is like. I learned how to appreciate my mom better; my baby made me a better person. I graduate next year and I know that without my baby I wouldn’t be were I’m at or be in a higher state of mind then I used to be.
Darlene changed my life for the better; she opened up my eyes to a whole new world and gave me new feelings I had never ever felt before. The smile on her face makes me want to be successful and the tears she cries push me to be a better mommy and a better person.
Growing up I was raised by both of my parents, as the time went by I started to realize we weren’t a happy family as we pretended to be. My mom hasn’t ever been the type of mom to show me affection or anything, Don’t get it wrong I know she loves me, she stuck with me through everything, all my courts, my pregnancy and all my tantrums. I started growing and opening my eyes so I started realizing how ugly this world really is. I started doing bad in school, smoking, drinking and wanting to fit in with people who wouldn’t behave well. When I was 14 and a half I ran away I guess it was like a tantrum too. I ran away twice until I turned 15 and a half I got pregnant.
On June 8th 2011 Darlene Marquez took her first breath and stole my heart.
She gave me a great reason to smile and hope for a better future.
She became my everything right the moment I saw her and she’s the reason why I’m here right now. My life gets hectic at times and there's day where my frustration wants to take over me and then I see her beautiful big eyes and her curly brown hair and she manages to keep me sane. Without her life wouldn’t be worth much to me, since she taught me patience, she taught me how to forgive and what being scared for someone else is like. I learned how to appreciate my mom better; my baby made me a better person. I graduate next year and I know that without my baby I wouldn’t be were I’m at or be in a higher state of mind then I used to be.