Babies

♍️💟

If you struggle to conceive please don’t read, I don’t want to make anyone feel sad.

This is kinda long so I apologize.

I just turned 20 a few days ago, and it seems like most of my friends from school are either mothers or they’re currently pregnant. My former best friend has three kids and she’s only 21... Even family members and people I didn’t go to school with who are my age are having babies (three of them, two already have one toddler). My partner and I are very not ready to have kids, but I’ve wanted to be a mother since I was 16, and now I’m completely surrounded by mothers my own age.

Is this normal? I feel like it can’t be THIS normal for 17-19 year olds to be having babies left and right like this. My own mother was a young and single mother for 11 years, so I’m not judging them or how capable they are of raising their child at all, it’s just crazy to me that so many people my age or younger are having kids when I know how not ready I am. If you have a child or children, what age did you them have at?

As a disclaimer: I have four siblings, all 11+ years younger, and I know how hard it is, some from experience but most from watching my mom (you don’t know what it’s really like to be a mom until you are one, I know that). My step dad was 100% gone for half the year and then he worked a lot the rest of it. I was homeschooled after my first sibling was born, so I had to step in full time as “parent #2” as my mom calls it... my teen years were spent mostly babysitting and changing diapers lol. I’m not complaining, I just know I’m not ready for the responsibility of a baby and am not going to have one until I am, no matter how much I want a child.

Also if any of you are young/single mothers please know that it’s not my intent to shame or offend any of you. On the contrary, I think you are amazing!