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Pregnant Girl
Pregnancy can be difficult at any age, but a pregnant girl faces numerous extra challenges.
Medical Challenges For The Pregnant Girl
A pregnant girl is ill equipped to manage a pregnancy on her own. She will be trying to support a growing fetus while her own body is still developing, and it will be very hard for her to take in enough calories to support them both. A typical adult pregnancy requires an average weight gain of 25 pounds.
Delivering a baby can be especially difficult for a pregnant girl if the baby's head is larger than her under developed pelvis.
Social Challenges For The Pregnant Girl
A pregnant girl will need to make some hard decisions about her immediate future. Her education is usually the first concern. A pregnant girl's due date may determine if she will be able to complete her current school year. And will she be able to continue her education after she delivers?
Unless she chooses to place her child for adoption, child care will become a necessity if a formerly pregnant girl goes back to school or takes a job to support her child.
How will her schoolmates react to her pregnancy? Children can be quite cruel at times, and a pregnant girl is likely to face some harsh words and judgments from her peers. It will take a lot of courage for her to face such derision.
Financial Challenges For A Pregnant Girl
How will a pregnant girl pay for prenatal care and a hospital delivery? Many adult women have some sort of health insurance that will cover part or all of the costs involved, but a pregnant girl is usually dependant on her parents for support. Will their health insurance cover her pregnancy? A pregnant girl is likely to end up on public assistance through Medicaid. Once in the welfare system, will she remain there?
Family Support And The Pregnant Girl
A pregnant girl may face a very emotionally charged situation when she tells her family she has become pregnant. Family support, or the lack of it is the biggest determining factor in how the pregnant girl's immediate future will turn out.
With strong support from a loving family, a pregnant girl and her baby stand a much better chance for the future. They are more likely to receive critical medical care and financial support.
Without family support, a pregnant girl may find herself drifting into a downward spiral of life in the welfare system and poverty.
Crisis Options For A Pregnant Girl
A pregnant girl does have some responsible options if she finds herself in an unplanned pregnancy .
Federally funded health clinics can provide prenatal care as well as follow up routine health care for mother and child.
Some charities and professional adoption services are also willing to help cover medical expenses if the child is going to be placed for adoption. Sometimes prospective adoptive parents will pay for all of a pregnant girls needs under the provisions of a private adoption contract, however, most states will require the permission of the pregnant girl's parents for such a contract to be legal.
Occasionally, A pregnant girl will find herself in a severe crisis. Afraid to tell her parents about her situation, she may choose to hide her pregnancy and attempt to deliver her baby alone. Tragic headlines in the newspapers tell of babies that have been left in trash cans and dumpsters.
Most cities today have a 'No Questions Asked' program. A formerly pregnant girl can take her newly delivered baby to any hospital ER, or fire station and turn it over for safe keeping. She will not be asked to identify herself. The point is to rescue the baby from potential danger.
A pregnant girl faces many challenges and the solutions will not come easily, but with strong family support and determination, a pregnant girl can make it through this difficult time.
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