1985

On August 15th, 1985 a new addition came into Yvette's life. Although Yvette had a lot of experience taking care of a baby because at nine she was responsible for taking care of her brother which included getting up in the middle of the night to make his bottles, change his soiled cloth diapers, feed him , bathe him and some nights play with him until he decided to go back to sleep. Yvette even took him to school with her on the school bus once, no one even questioned it. Although she had previous experience and was excited about having a baby she was not prepared to raise a child at 14. She would often reminisce on her comeuppance and tell herself that she would use the experience from taking cate of her brother and everything would turn out fine. In August of 1984 Yvette, her mom and brother moved to the eastside of Los Angeles Ca. Yvette hated the fact that they had moved away from family and friends, making new friends was not hard for her because she had a very outgoing personality, a social butterfly. She was glad she made friends quickly during the summer because she would have someone to walk to school with and show her around. Eighth grade was different, the kids at this school were different than what Yvette was used to, the students defied authority, fought the teachers and skipped school just to name a few things that Yvette viewed as abnormal. The neighborhood was different too, there were houses on the same street as apartments that she lived on. The weekends were cool. An airplane would fly over her friends yard and shine the lights on everyone while they danced in the "spotlight". Some nights Yvette would go with her older guy friend who was 17, she even frequented his house and vice versa when her mom was not home. In November her body began to change , her appetite increased, and her mood was up and down her hair was even growing longer, she new that she was to young to be going through the "change". During winter break in December of 1984, Yvette went to her hometown in Stockton ca to visit her family but most importantly, her friends. One morning her grandmother woke het up and took her to a clinic, this took her totally by surprise, but not as surprised as she was going to be. When the nurse came back , she told Yvette that she was eight weeks, Yvette replied eight weeks what? the nurse responded pregnant, your two months pregnant. Then the nurse went on to give Yvette some advice that she thought she needed or wanted to know, she stated that if Yvette proceeded with pregnancy, she would be taking the risk of the baby being born with a cleft lip. When Yvette's mom got the news about the pregnancy she presented Yvette with a decision to make, if she kept the baby she couldn't come home, but if she aborted the baby she could return. She decided to keep the baby, so Yvette called her dad to let him know he was going to be a grandfather, he was happy and sad all in one, after all his 14 year old daughter was pregnant. Yvette's dad vowed to be there for her and the baby no matter what. Yvette also informed her dad that she was homeless because she decided to keep the baby, her dad picked her up, so now she's living with her dad, stepmom, and two sisters. That arrangement ended after a few months so Yvette returned to Los Angeles in March of 1985. Her soul was sad. Yvette had friends thar stuck by her side , but o e friend stood by her side even when the neighborhood kids and his sister called him stupid. Yvette's daughter attended school with her from six weeks old until Yvette graduated from high school. Yvette was an excellent student too. She was liked by all her new friends and teachers. The baby was well liked by the director of the childcare facility. Her baby daddy was a ladies man well boy since he was only 17. This didn't make Yvette popular with some of the girls there, because she had his baby she found herself in a physical altercation with one of them thankfully someone was there to grab the baby out of her arms. This incident was the straw that broke the camel's back, Yvette and her baby would be moving back to Stockton permanently. They moved in with her grandmother and that stay was short lived also . Yvette and her baby moved in with her 16 year old boyfriend and his dysfunctional family. She attended school, but without her baby , this was a new found freedom. The dysfunction she was exposed to was very confusing , so Yvette and her baby found themselves moving from here to there trying to give her and her baby something better. At 16 she moved into her own place with two children and a new baby daddy. Now she attended high school with two children. She was so overwhelmed and didn't even realize it and having an abusive baby daddy didn't help. Life felt empty , but Yvette continued to strive, she was the underdog striving to be the top dog. She never let anything or anyone get into her way. Her attitude towards life was fierce and unstoppable and people around her saw that in her and respected her. Yvette had so much support from her dad and other's around her. Yvette knows she made the right decision to keep her baby because this one decision that changed het life but it changed her for the better because the lifestyle she got involved in when she relocated to Los Angeles was very unhealthy her baby saved her life and helped her to take a different life course even though she struggled as a teen mom it helped her make other's aware that you will struggles in life and having a baby in your teen years will add to the struggle. So if possible don't weigh yourself down unnecessarily.