Noelia & Patrick; 1998-9

Where should I start?... The first three months of my pregnancy I was living with my mother. I was going to school, throwing up. I had a lot of absences, a lot of difficulty. I talked to my teachers. My mother finally found out from me throwing up. That was like a big deal. Everyone told me to get an abortion. My whole, entire family told me to get an abortion. I didn't want to. Patrick has something in his family that he might not be able to have kids. So my decision to keep my son was, well, I thought that if this is his only opportunity, I don't want to take that away from him. I also decided that maybe this was something in my life that I needed to get through… Little by little, I'm proving to everyone that - yeah - I can do this. I can do this by myself. Not everyone is willing to just have babies and that' it. It's not like, oh well, we're going to have babies and let everyone else support us. No I'm working for what I can do. I want the best life for my son. And right now, if I have to go by the rules, it doesn't bother me because I'm concentrating on my son and trying to get the best for him. Whatever it takes, I'm going to do.
-Noelia