Spread the Love – Expecting and Teen Parents Need Love and Support #Ultrahug

Life isn’t always predictable and when I found myself pregnant at the age of 18, I remember being overwhelmed with a variety of options. I immediately knew that my parents would be disappointed with me so I was kinda scared to tell them. I remember talking to my boss because I was having issues being able to handle my current job duties (groomer/dog walker/cleaned up kennels) due to the smell. The morning sickness was getting to me and I was having a hard time cleaning out the cages for fear of losing whatever was in my stomach. At this point, I hadn’t told my parents that I was pregnant but I had to fess up to my boss so that he knew what was going on. My boss was very kind-hearted and referred me to one of those pregnancy life line clinics in area who supported mom’s keeping their babies. It always saddens me when pregnant women are referred to abortion clinics (im pro-life). I get that abortion clinics were created for a reason but that isn’t what this post is about.  It about Spreading the Love campaign by Huggies.

I went to the clinic and took a pregnancy test. They confirmed that I was indeed pregnant and they recommended that I tell my parents. I did eventually tell my parents. They were disappointed in the end but they did help me quite a bit during my pregnancy. As I neared my due date, I decided to move out of my parents house so that I would have more room for me and the baby. I went to celebrate my mom’s birthday at a Mexican restaurant (my favorite craving during my pregnancy with my daughter) and little did I know that my water would break later that night. When my water broke, I called my dear mom to come drive me to the hospital because there was no way that I could drive myself due to strong contractions.

It was just shortly after midnight by the time that we arrived at the hospital and after the nurses checked me they said that I was still in early labor. So the nurses told my mom that she could go home and come back in the morning. The nurses were kind enough to give me some medication in my IV and as soon as it hit, I drifted off to sleep. I woke up the next morning and I was still having painful contractions. By this time, my doctor ordered my epidural and a pitocin drip. The epidural was heaven sent and I was able to finally relax before my daughter made her entrance. She was born shortly after 12:30pm, it was during half time of the Dallas Cowboys game ( her grandpa was watching the game in the waiting room).

After my daughter was born, I was immediately overwhelmed with love for my daughter. I can’t describe the feeling. I am lucky and had a strong support system in place after she was born. However, there are a ton of teen mom’s who don’t have that luxury for whatever reason.

Uplifting Families Nominates Parent Life of Lubbok, Texas

Today, I want to nominate Parent Life of Lubbock (if you don’t live in Lubbock, there are other ministries similar to this one in your area). Parent Life of Lubbock is a ministry that serves teen mother’s in Lubbock, TX. The goal of their program to support, encourage, and equip expectant and parenting teens with the life, relationship, and parenting skills they need for them and their children to become healthy emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually and to become successful and responsible adults. They rely on donations from generous people in the community and accept donations for gently used baby gear and baby products. 

More About Huggies “Spread the Love” Campaign

Huggies, the diaper brand, has launched a “Spread the Love” campaign, using social media and the ever-favorite selfie to encourage people to nominate a community program that could benefit from a $2,000 donation from them. Just upload a selfie of you and your little one to Instagram or Twitter, tag it with #UltraHug, and nominate your project of choice.  It can be a fundraiser for a specific event or effort, a non-profit, a school, a community park, playground or rec center, etc.

On July 6th, voting will begin to narrow down the 20 finalists to 10 winners who will win a $2,000 grant from Huggies for their nominated community initiative.

Don’t forget to upload your nomination to Twitter or Instagram. Make sure you use the hashtag #UltraHug

Does your community have a support group to help teenagers who are expecting or parents?

If you find this article helpful and useful, please share it with your family and friends. Sharing helps Uplifting Families grow. Thank you for visiting.