Student shares experiences as a teen mom

A pregnancy test seems so simple. One line means “no,” two lines means “yes.” But what if the person who took it can’t tell if there is one line or two lines? They take another one. This time, use a test that is easier to understand. “Pregnant” or “not pregnant.” Simple and to the point. Senior Taylor Hagerty had to take two pregnancy tests before she got her answer. Her answer was clear when she took her second test. “Pregnant.”

“I was really scared,” Hagerty said. “At first, I thought the test was wrong.”

Although a surge of emotions went through her, she immediately knew she wanted to keep her child. Hagerty’s boyfriend, Christopher Enriquez, was with her when she took the pregnancy tests. The couple planned on holding off on telling her parents, but Hagerty’s mother ended up being the person they told and she found out two or three days after they did.  

“She’s always been supportive of everything that I do,” Hagerty said of her mother.

Hagerty’s father had a different reaction to the baby news. According to Hagerty, he was originally “disappointed.” He worried about Hagerty and graduation, but he came around a few days later after they were able to sit down as a family. The family is expecting a boy, whose middle name will be Joseph, matching Hagerty’s father’s own middle name.

Although she knew she was expecting a baby, Hagerty said it first hit her when she went to her first ultrasound appointment. Her parents were both there, along with Enriquez and his mother. Hagerty saw her baby on the screen, and looked up to see both Enriquez and her father with big smiles on their faces.

“I was really excited that they were excited. It made me really happy because I know that disappointing my dad really hurt me, and it made me feel so much better that he saw his grandchild on the screen.”

Hagerty has also received tremendous support from her close friends. At the beginning of her pregnancy, they would come over and bring her food and would take her to doctor’s appointments.

“It’s nice to have a supportive group of friends like it nice to have a supportive family,” Hagerty said. “I knew the friends I have were going to stay. I was more concerned about family. Friends come and go, but you’ll always have family, so that it what I was worried about.”

Before becoming pregnant, Hagerty planned on going straight to a four-year university. She and Enriquez discussed college, and she decided on attending Wenatchee Valley College after high school to save money. After two years at WVC, she plans on going to a university in the Seattle area where she has family.

Throughout her pregnancy Hagerty has experienced morning sickness, and has times where she becomes very emotional and will “cry at random things.” She also has nights when she wakes up in the middle of the night because she is unable to sleep. Her main concern is giving birth and not wanting anything to go wrong. But all in all, Hagerty is looking forward to the baby arriving. Her due date is March 22, but her doctor expects the baby around late February or early March, because of the fast rate the baby is growing.

“I’m excited to have my own family. I know people have strong views about young moms. But I am excited to have a little one of me and Christopher running around,” she said.

She has also become much more motivated, and wants to keep going in school for the benefit of her son.

“Being pregnant is making me push myself. I always got C’s and stuff. I don’t want to be that one teen mom who doesn’t graduate. I’m really focused and dead set on graduating. I’ve got my dad to keep me on top of that,” she said.

When it comes to other people’s perceptions of teen mothers, some people may think that they are giving up their lives at an early age, but not Hagerty.

“I think the thought that comes to most girl’s heads or people in general is that when you become a teen mom, you’re ruining your life, and I don’t think that is true. As bad as your situation may be, there is going to be someone who supports you. I think it just takes time. For me, I think that point is going to be seeing the baby for the first time.”