There’s a moment of shock when you find out something you least expect. A moment where things are hard to believe, before all of a sudden the wave of fear sets in.
Rebekkah Garza felt this shock as she sat in the hospital one late August day. Her mom, Diana, took her to get checked out after Bekkah complained of unusual stomach pains. When the doctor finally asked to speak to Bekkah privately, that’s when she found out.
At 16 years old, barely starting her sophomore year of high school, Bekkah was going to be a mother. That day at the hospital she was four weeks pregnant.
The months ahead would hold many challenges for Bekkah, as she struggled to put on weight for a healthy pregnancy. “I did have some difficulties in the beginning,” she said. “I wasn’t gaining weight and my baby was low birth weight.”
Growing into
BY JOSEFINA MANCILLA
Motherhood
According to The National Campaign, teen mothers are more likely to face health issues throughout their pregnancy, often having higher infant mortality rates and not receiving sufficient prenatal care.
For Bekkah, however, her health was not the only difficult part about becoming a mom. Perhaps one of the most stressing things was where she stood with her baby’s father—or rather where they didn’t stand.
“My boyfriend was scared, like me,” she said. “He didn’t really know what to do, so he left [the picture].” This went on for several months, until her final weeks of the pregnancy. But even then, having dealt with his previous fleeing, Bekkah was apprehensive and confused about his role in everything. For this same reason, she would later give her daughter her last name instead of his.
Because of this, her support came in large part from her mom and her friends, though she didn’t tell her friends that she was pregnant until she was four months along.
“I appreciate my friends being there, honestly, because they helped me throughout my pregnancy,” she said. Later adding that her relationship with her mom “got a lot better. We got closer, and she gives me good advice.” This, despite the fact her mom found out Bekkah was pregnant through overhearing the nurses talk at the hospital at the very start of it all.
Being a young mom, Bekkah knew that people would inevitably talk about her, whether it was students at school or doctors and staff at the hospital.
“Nobody ever directly gave me a negative comment, but I’m pretty sure a lot of kids at school were thinking it or talking about it,” she said. “I never really cared what people thought, though, because I know in the future it wouldn’t matter anyway, and I know I would have made the right decision keeping the baby.”
Against all odds, Bekkah set out to prepare for her coming baby: reading books, going to pregnancy classes with other expecting teen-moms at school, and even watching videos about motherhood.
“I was definitely nervous about just becoming a mom in general, and especially about labor,” she said. But Bekkah’s labor went smoother than she expected.
On April 19 she welcomed her daughter, Ella Reign Garza, into the world. And though at that point, her life was filled with more love and happiness because of her daughter, Bekkah knew she still had many more challenges ahead.
“I expected not to sleep, but I never expected so little sleep,” she said about the experience of motherhood. “Other than that, things aren’t that different, but I do have to put her first for everything, which was also expected. I would say the hardest part of being a teen mom is a lot of adults thinking that because I’m young and have a child, they can talk down to me. [It] actually happened with doctors.”
Bekkah is finishing the school year at home with one of her teachers. She plans to finish high school and hopes to go to college afterward, but balancing school with taking care of a baby is hard work. She said, “it’s a big responsibility when there’s such little time.”
Despite her young age, Bekkah already shows the sacrificial love of a mother.
“I hope for Ella to find a profession she loves,” she said. “For her to be healthy and happy and know that with God anything is possible... And I will be the most supportive mom I can be for her.” Adding that she hopes their smaller age gap will help them be close in her older years.
This love she has for Ella includes fixing her relationship with Ella’s father.
“My relationship with her dad is a little confusing,” Bekkah said. “We still have a lot of stuff to work out, but I hope in the future we can for the sake of our daughter.”
"I hope for Ella to find a profession she loves, for her to be healthy and happy and know that with god anything is possible."
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Showered with love
A snap OF the NEW LIFE
Bekkah's friends show us an inside look at their relationship with the newly added, Ella, through screenshots of Bekkah's snapchats. The teen mom constantly gushes about her daughter, showing her off to her friends.