Becoming a single mom at 18 years old was definitely not part of my life plan. I had lots of goals and big dreams!

I took every parenting class that the hospital offered to try and prepare for being a young mom. I had never changed a diaper in my life. I knew absolutely nothing. My son, Tanner, was born 8-26-06 and the world as I knew it completely changed forever. He went to college with me, road trips, vacations, & even to work with me. We've built three houses together, read a million books, watched just about every movie there is, and tried every type of food. He's been my co-pilot, my sidekick, my backseat driver, and now my actual driver with a learner’s permit. We've been on more adventures than I can even count. We have truly grown up together.

“Hang in there.” Those are the words I muttered with tears rolling down my face just last year. “I would say hang in there,” I tell our counselor, Jeff.

He asked me if I could go back and tell myself anything what would I say. I go on to quietly squeak out that I would want to know that it was all worth it. That the fight and the courage it took to live out my 20’s would propel me into the person I am today and that it was all going to be okay, better than “okay”. With help, I was going to grow into a life that I loved. Yes it was going to be hard, but we can do hard things. Beauty is found in the hard.

The fall semester of 2017 changed the course of my life forever. It was my first semester as a transfer student. Though I didn’t know it then, it was also my last semester at the University of South Alabama (U.S.A). After I had graduated with my Associate’s degree in Science from Southern Union State Community College, I worked for a year to save money to put myself through school. Then began at U.S.A as a Broadcast Journalism major with a Marketing minor.

I was so excited about starting a new chapter at U.S.A. I did my own Jazz music show on The Prowl ( the school’s radio station), wrote for the school newspaper, and worked in film and media for the school’s various sports programs. I stayed busy and worked hard to give my best at everything I did.

It was on my dad’s birthday, just over a month since I had turned 21, when a feeling in my gut told me I should go buy the test. As I sat in the floor of the bathroom of my parents home, I cried and I screamed (as silently as I could so that no one would know anything was wrong). I begged and I begged God to just make one line appear instead of two. Of course, He knew what I needed better than I did in that moment. As those dreaded two lines popped up almost instantly, I felt numb. I felt like my life was over. I just knew that my parents would kill me. That they would be so filled with shame and disappointment. How would they face their friends? Our church? I would surely have to drop out of school. My life was ruined, what was I going to do?

I was nineteen when I found out I was pregnant with my son. I was a sophomore in college at Auburn University. This was not the plan I had for my life. I was not married and felt like my world was falling apart. In that moment I was scared. How was my boyfriend going to react? Would my parents be disappointed in me? What would everyone think of me?

My then-boyfriend and I found out about our daughter five weeks after I turned 21. I was a junior at Auburn, and already 10 weeks along in my pregnancy. The feeling of being alone was overwhelming at times for me. I vividly remember walking through campus soon after I discovered I was pregnant and realizing that everyone I walked past had NO idea that my life had just done a 180. They had no idea I was going to be a mom or how terrified I was.

The first thing I would want to say is you are NOT alone, you are not the first woman to have an unplanned pregnancy or be unmarried and pregnant, and you WON’T BE THE LAST. You are brave, you are strong, you are free to follow God’s plan for your life. He has blessed you with this baby for a reason! He blessed me with mine to save my life, to change me, and to show me how he truly sees me.

It’s a day every mom hopes never comes, the day her teenaged daughter announces that she has something to tell you. My daughter was having a hard time finding her way during her senior year of high school. An injury caused her to give up a sport she loved, and frequent debilitating migraines made it difficult to keep up with her classes. In the hopes of finding medical treatment to get her migraines under control she decided to put off college until the January after her graduation. A month before she was to start classes, she told me and my husband that she was pregnant. My first thought was “Get rid of it.” My second thought was horror over that instinct.

I found out at the beginning of my senior year at Auburn. I had gotten out of a long-term relationship a few months prior and was in a weird place emotionally. I felt the Lord calling me in one direction and the world calling me the opposite way. I had reconnected with a friend named Conner, we hit it off immediately, but then he left for a 4- month deployment. A few weeks later on September 14th, I found out I was pregnant, and I completely crumbled. I was on the floor of my best friend’s room sobbing, trying to figure out how this could happen to me. I was not at all the wild party type (which I guess I thought you had to be if you got pregnant young), and I had plans! I was in the process of applying to grad school to become a physical therapist which has been my dream forever, I hadn’t graduated, and obviously I wasn’t married like I had envisioned I would be before having a baby.

After I graduated from high school, I was in college and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to major in or even pursue as a career. Naturally, I ended up focusing more on having fun and dating than school. After a bad break up, I reset my priorities and decided that I needed to just finish something. Since I was already working in the field of healthcare, I began actively trying to finish and obtain my Associates Degree in that area. I graduated with my Associates Degree with every intent to later continue my education and work towards obtaining my bachelor's degree, but first I was going to take a short break. By this time, I was in a relationship that wasn't going anywhere, but for the sake of stability I was clinging to it for dear life. In hindsight it did nothing but cause more uncertainty and made life unsteady.

Charlton is a senior at Auburn University studying Communication with a Nonprofit minor. She has served as a Baby Steps intern since Spring 2018, helping with communication and event planning. She is graduating in December of this year and is excited to begin a new chapter. We are thankful for the time we have gotten to spend with Charlton, Seth (her awesome husband), and her new baby, Camdyn. We are so excited to share their story!

By far, the greatest blessing of our lives has been the gift of our daughter, Emily.

Tom and I always wanted children and were excited about the prospect of being parents. After 10 years of trying, including 4 unsuccessful in vitro attempts, the doctors still could find no apparent reason why I could not get pregnant.

Emily joined us for coffee at the baby steps house a few weeks ago to discuss her story about adoption. Emily is a sophomore at Auburn University and radiates joy and kindness. She is majoring in Human Family and Development Studies. Emily reached out when she heard about the mission of Baby Steps and felt compelled to share her story about the receiving end of someone who did not give up on her.

I was so young (19 when I found out I was Pregnant) and I was afraid that I was missing out on a lot. I was pregnant through the summer so all my friends were doing all these fun things that I was not able to do. I did not let that hold me back from enjoying the blessing I was growing inside of me.

Kaitlyn Willing found out she was a pregnant when she was just a junior in college. When she found out she was pregnant, she describes feeling terrified and confused. We sat down with Kaitlyn and asked her some questions about her experience as a student at Auburn.

Hannah found out she was pregnant just eight months ago when she was a student at Auburn University. Hannah’s greatest joys in life are her family and her new puppy. She enjoys spending time with people she loves most, whether that’s friends, family, or her awesome husband.

When Hannah found out she was pregnant, she was utterly shocked. We sat down with Hannah and asked her a few questions about her journey.