The phenomenal Elizabeth Larson. Elizabeth found herself pregnant at just 13 years old, barely into 8th grade. She didn't even know that 13 year old girls could get pregnant when she discovered that she was. She wasn't sure what to think or do but knew immeadiately that she was going to give this baby everything it wanted and deserved in life. She told her parents and though they were devastated, they asked her what she wanted to do. She told them, ""I've been considering adoption as an option because I know I can't raise a baby, and neither can you guys..." Her parents agreed that was likely the best option. Elizabeth found her baby's parents just a few days after she found out she was pregnant. She says, "Immediately, I knew they were her parents. No question about it. I contacted them through their blog and met them 2-3 weeks later. We spent so much time together, hanging out, eating, laughing, bonding. I spent my 14th birthday with them and I knew they were the most perfect people for my baby." Elizabeth says that until her ultrasound at 18 weeks, when she saw her daughter for the first time, everything was so surreal. She enjoyed every second of her pregnancy however as she knew that was the time she had to spend with her daughter. At 40 weeks + 2 days, labor started and she says it was the worst yet most beautiful pain she'd ever been in. She labored for 18 hours but hadn't progressed beyond 4 cms for 12 hours when both she and her daughter's heart rates began to drop. She was taken in for an emergency cesarean under general anesthesia and didn't get to see her baby for 4-5 hours. She lost so much blood she went into shock and needed a transfusion. Elizabeth spent the next 4 days in the hospital with her beautiful girl before signing over her parental rights. She says, "I can't tell you how much it killed me, and how hard it was. But I can tell you, I've never been in so much pain. My baby wasn't mine anymore. But she's mine in a way that she's no one else's."
Elizabeth chose an open adoption so she is still able to play a roll in her daughter's life who is just shy of her second birthday. Elizabeth is now 16 and is finishing up high school. While she does, she will begin taking classes at her local community college for nursing. She says she's known her entire life that she wanted to be a NICU nurse and is looking forward to pursuing that. She wants teen moms, and teen birth moms and birth moms in general to be proud of their decisions and wants her daughter to know that she made the decision to place her with her parents not because she chose to abandon her but because she loves her more than anything.
Elizabeth keeps a beautiful blog about her journey at Love You, And I Mean It.