I have been with my boyfriend for about 2 years now. We know that we want to be together forever, but we are both in school right now. I am a freshman in my second semester, and he is a sophomore in his.

Both of us have a few years of school left, and we are waiting until we are done to start our lives together. Currently we are doing long distance, and it’s been extremely hard. I stopped taking my birth control about 7 months ago because I was forgetful and it wasn’t effective for me.

I wanted to switch to the shot, but my mom told me I would have to do it on my own, which can get expensive. We had been using pill + condoms as a method for birth control, but then just condoms. A few weeks ago we forgot a condom, and he just said he would pull out. I haven’t had my period since I went off the pill, because I went on the pill to control my irregularity and once off of it my cycle was irregular again. I started to feel like maybe I was going to finally have my period about 2 weeks ago, but something just wasn’t right. I took 2 pregnancy tests and there it was: that little pink plus sign. I was in shock. I didn’t know what to do. I called my boyfriend and told him that we needed to go in and do this. There was never a doubt in either of our minds, but it was still scary. I felt really alone in the whole situation, even though my boyfriend was right there. However, now that it’s over, I am so relieved and grateful that I had the option to continue pursuing my dreams. I know that I want children some day, but now is not the time. I have to think about creating a future for myself and being able to provide a good life for my future children. They deserve it, and right now I couldn’t give that to a child. I can barely take care of myself, and I have a lot of growing up to do. A child doesn’t deserve to have a mother who is still learning how to be a grown up while also learning how to raise a human being. I am so grateful that my life can now go on the way I intended, and that I will be able to continue following my dreams. I am going to be getting an IUD inserted next week to ensure that I will be protected until I am ready to bring children into this world.