Mother vs Student

Mother vs. Student

Gail Brown

Comp 112

On a rainy March day, Ebony Osby a student and mother opened the door to her tiny two bedroom apartment, in her arms she holds her petite daughter Essynce who has drool dripping from her perfect pick lips. The apartment smelled of sour milk and baby lotion mixed with febreeze. Besides the few baby clothes and blankets on the couch and floor the apartment was clean and well put together. Ebony excuses the mess and makes way to the couch; she places Essynce in her bouncer and moves her computer education book to the side to make way for me to sit down.

“I’ve been trying to keep her quite while I’m studying for my quiz but that’s not working.” She laughs as she grabs a bottle from the counter and places it in Esseynce mouth. Being an Education major Ebony already has a lot on her plate, and a baby into the mix had to have made it difficult. 3 in 10 teenage girls get pregnant before the age of 20, and drop out of school, Ebony did the exact opposite. “Dropping out of school was not an option, I have come too far to let small obstacle stop me from finishing school. Plus this school has too much of money already!” she laughed

Ebony found out she was pregnant when she was already 2 months, not being in a committed in a relationship and the baby father being in denial, abortion was an option she had thought about. “At first I thought about not keeping the baby, I was 19 without the support of the father but I travelled to Texas to clear mind and realized the right thing to do was to keep the baby,” says Ebony. “Plus in my opinion after a certain amount of time I don’t believe abortions should be performed.”

            Like most young mothers Ebony was embarrassed to tell her family at first she waited a long time to reveal her pregnancy. “I didn’t want anybody to find out I was pregnant, besides my morning sickness you really couldn’t tell till about my 5 month and that’s when I decided to tell my grandmother.” “My grandmother is churchgoing old fashion woman who looked down on young woman getting pregnant, so I felt that I would be a disappointment to her, but she took it better than I thought and supported me in my decision to keep it.” Ebony said with a smile.

            Ebony returned to school August 2010 with her stomach as big as her book bag, shocked spread across the whole school as she walked to class with an extra 20 pounds added to her stomach. Ebony explained people’s reactions “People were shocked that I came back to school especially without taking breaks, but most of them were proud of me.” “I was in shock, and I didn’t know she was really pregnant, we hadn’t talked that whole summer so when she came to school with that whole big stomach I was scared and excited to find out what the sex was.” says Essynce’s father.

            4 months later on Dec.4, 2010 at 12:08pm two weeks before her due date Essyence Ma’raye Love was brought into this world.  “Having her early conflicted with my finals so I had to take incompletes till the next semester, but knowing that she was healthy was all that mattered.” At that point Essynce became a little fussy; Ebony excused herself and lifted Essynce a big wet spot appeared on her pink onsie. Ebony laughed, “The joys of motherhood.”  Ebony pulled off her clothes and rubbed her with a bottom with a wipe; with each touch Ebony was gentle to make sure Essynce was comfortable. After the little interruption Ebony sat back down her mood little dimmer and expressed her feelings towards the baby father, “He’s supportive, and buys her things she needs, he also gives me a break when I need it, though we have our times he’s an ok father.”

Although the baby father is in her child’s life Ebony hopes for more for her child, being raised by her grandmother she wants both of Essynce’s parents together. “I want to give her everything! I want my child to grow up totally different from the way I did.”

            As for any young mother there are many obstacles of raising a child, but not everyone has the support of roommates and friends. “We try to help her as much as we can we take turns watching Essynce when Ebony has class,” said Rocquieh. Ebony rants on about how she wishes she could take all the credit but without her friends she doesn’t know how she would make it. With shows like teen mom and 16 pregnant that represents the hardships of young parenting Ebony hopes to be an inspiration for other teens who have kids or who are pregnant. “I want other girls to know that the world hasn’t come to an end and that there are many options out there for them.”  Ebony picks up Essynce who has fallen asleep and kisses her on her forehead and whispers, “Even though she wasn’t planned she is the best thing that’s happened to me and I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”