| My Story Unplanned Pregnancy--Call 1-866-4-1-TRUTH |
He was 16 years old, a junior in high school and as active as I was--school choir and band, Boy Scouts, on the basketball team, ran track, and busy in his church youth group. The only thing that marred my life was the knowledge that at the end of the school year my family was moving what seemed like very, very far away. I did not want to go. He did not want me to go. We wanted to get married, but knew our parents would never let us. We thought that if I was pregnant they would let us. |
| The school year had ended and my family had moved when my mother found the letter I had written to Mart to tell him I thought I was pregnant. It so happened that very same day he came by my house--a surprise visit. I will never forget my mother screaming at him, making him go away, not allowing me to talk to him. I remember one meeting my parents and I had at his house with him and his parents. We told them we wanted to marry. They asked questions but every answer, every plan we had they put down. It was decided that I would have to give the baby up for adoption--Our parents decided, not Mart and not me. I was sent 1200 miles away from home--away from family, friends, and Mart-- to Rest Cottage Maternity Home in Texas. It was operated under the auspices of the Nazarene Church. There was never any counseling about any option other than giving my baby up for adoption. I was made to feel that this was the price I would pay for my sin, that this would some how make up for the sin I had committed--the sin of loving someone at the wrong time in my life. I was told that my baby deserved more that I could provide, that I would forget, that I would come home and go on with my life as if nothing happened. I know that Mart and I would have been able to provide our daughter with love and all of the things she needed if our parents had been willing to help us get started. I know that the money they paid for me to go to Rest Cottage could have been used to help us. They both had homes big enough for us to have lived with them. And I know that a mother NEVER forgets her child and she NEVER goes on with life as if nothing had happened. |
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| This is my daughter, born at 6: 25 am March 1, 1963. She weighted 7 lbs. 3 3/4 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. This picture was taken when she was 6 months old. I named her Marta Kay; she was renamed Carrie Ann. The poem to the right was written right after she was born. |
| I have written the story in poem form. It gives some insight to what I was thinking and how I was feeling. To go there click this link. |
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| I was 15 years old, a sophomore in high school--an active teen busy with Senior Girl Scouts, Rainbow Girls, school choir, volunteering in the school library and office, and church youth groups. I was happy and having the time of my life going to dances, ballgames, chatting on the phone with friends, and just being a teen. And I was in love!! |
| Rest Cottage Maternity Home Pilot Point, Texas |
| My Little Marta Kay My little Marta Kay, although you are going away I will always pray for you each day. I pray that God will hold you in his hands and light the path thay you will follow. If only I could keep you, but it is not to be And I must let you go away from me. But my heart breaks that you must go for no mother could love you more. You are my child. a part of me, but they say that I cannot provide the home that you need and deserve or give you the security and opportunites that are rightfully yours. I pray that it is in God's plan for us to meet again someday Please know that you will always remain in my heart even though we are apart. I pray that your second parents are good and kind and bring you up knowing God's love. I love you with everything within me My Little Marta Kay I wrote this shorly after Marta was born. |
| Firstmothers Never Forget! |
| Even though they tell you that you will. |
| Being a mother is a noble status, right? So why does it change when you put 'unwed' or 'welfare' in front of it it? -Gloria Steinem |
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