Sarah grew up without a dad and, while it’s been hard, she’s really close with her mom. Actually, the only person that Sarah’s closer with besides her mom is her boyfriend Blake, who she’s been dating on and off since 6th grade. Sarah wants to go to college and be a journalist, but Blake clearly doesn’t share her same goals for college since he dropped out of high school after getting bad grades.  And between wanting to play video games and eventually move to southern Georgia to be a shrimp fisherman,  Sarah’s not sure Blake will be there for the baby, Tinleigh, when she comes.  Sarah’s mom, Tina, wants Blake to contribute time and money to helping Sarah take care of Tinleigh, but Blake hates living with them and tells his friend that he would rather “pay child support and get out of here.” The tension gets to an all-time high when Sarah runs out of her savings and can’t afford diapers and Blake buys brand new tires for his truck instead of helping Sarah out.  After a fight, Blake leaves Sarah and Tinleigh and moves to southern Georgia. And if you’re thinking Blake is an unusually unhelpful guy, unfortunately, he’s in the vast majority since one of the 8 out of 10 teen fathers that don’t marry the mother of their child.

Without Blake in the picture, Sarah sleeps even less and is even more stressed out.  Sarah had counted on having Blake around so she could continue going to school.  But she’s determined not to give up all of her dreams of finishing high school and going to college but she knows it will have to be different.  She opens up about the challenges of being a single teen mom saying that she “didn’t want a baby at 17 because there were a lot of things I wanted to do at 17 that are a lot a lot a lot harder with the baby.” She even says that if she had known having a baby was going to be so hard, she would have done everything she could have not to get pregnant, even if that meant waiting to have sex.  Sarah gets straight to the point and explains that waiting “would have been the best thing.”  After all, waiting to have sex is the only 100% effective method to prevent pregnancy.  And did you know that 2 out of 3 teenagers wished they had waited to have sex? And if you’re waiting, you’re not alone– half of all teens in high school haven’t had sex.  But whether you decide to wait or decide you’re ready to have sex, it’s YOUR decision to make.  If you decide to have sex, make sure you know how to prevent pregnancy. Here’s what works and what doesn’t!