I was
4 months pregnant when I got
married. I was also 21 years old. I guess I fall into the
previously mentioned catagory of getting married for the child.
I didn't intend to get pregnant, but I wasn't doing anything to prevent it. I'm one of the ridiculously low 2% of the female population who does not respond well to the hormones in birth control pills. I absolutely abhor condoms. The pull out method was our 'birth control.' It obviously didn't work.
We were engaged and living together and had a date set for our wedding. We had even started planning the wedding. It was going to be on Halloween and we were going to be in costume. Then things really changed.
I wasn't sure how he would react, but thankfully, he was overjoyed. Now I just had to tell our parents. Here I was, a 21 year old woman and so scared to tell my parents that I was pregnant. What were they going to do, ground me??? My dad's reaction was 'I hoped that one of my daughter's didn't HAVE to get married'. I was angry. I certainly didn't HAVE to get married, I WANTED to get married!
We chose to get married before I gave birth to reduce the confusion regarding last names. I wasn't showing in my wedding pictures and I wasn't sick, either.
Of course, I wish I had done things differently. I've been in several beautiful weddings and am always inwardly jealous that I didn't have that. I'll have to live with that. Even still, I will never regret having my daughter. She is my heart and my soul and her father is my best friend. We plan to have a large ceremony to renew our vows on a major anniversary, such as our 10th. My life is wonderful and I currently expecting our second child. Things couldn't be better.