It was 3 a.m. in the Walmart bathroom when Savannah Terrell’s life changed forever. 

She had been driving around with her friends and boyfriend all evening. The night was waning, curfew had long since past. She had a gut feeling that something was wrong, so her friends pulled into the Walmart parking lot. She asked her boyfriend to wait in the car while she and a friend entered the store. Clad in her boyfriend’s jacket against the cold night air, she told her friend what they were looking for.

A few minutes later, Savannah was in the Walmart bathroom with a box of pregnancy tests.

She took nine tests and even had her friend take one to make sure that they were accurate. Her worst fears were confirmed as the little plus signs stared back at her.

With her friend by her side, she trudged back to the car in disbelief. She slid into the driver’s seat. After a moment, she broke the news to her boyfriend. He was silent for the rest of the night.

She took him home, tears streaming down her face. Once he was home, she drove for miles, crying the whole way, ending the night by destroying her phone. She stayed the night with a friend in Denton.

For the next two weeks, Savannah lived with a school friend, not knowing how or what to tell her parents. She was having thoughts of dropping out of school and leaving the state. She even had thoughts of abortion. Finally, sobbing in front of her computer screen, Savannah decided it was time to tell her parents.

“I told them over email,” Savannah said. “It was tough. I wrote this really, really, really long message and instantly got a reply.”

Savannah later met with her mother, Laurie, to discuss their options.

“We were disappointed and upset,” Laurie said. “She had dated someone behind our backs because she knew we would not approve of him. She ran away before we knew and told us that her friends and boyfriend would help her. In the end, no one helped her but us.”

Savannah’s pregnancy was an emotional rollercoaster. In the beginning, she did not want the baby. She and her parents discussed adoption. Even with her protruding belly, she still couldn’t quite believe that she was pregnant.

“At first, I was crying every day,” Savannah said. “I thought it was absolutely horrible and that I was never going to have a life and have to stay at home with the baby.”

Around the end of her second trimester, however, Savannah decided to keep the baby.

On July 7, 2011, baby Abigail was born, weighing in at nine pounds, six ounces. At just seventeen years old, Savannah was facing the life of a single teen mom, a position she never thought she’d be in.

“I would watch ‘16 and Pregnant’ and think that that could never be me,” Savannah said. “I kind of judged teen moms. I would see young pregnant people and I would whisper to my friends about it.”

She remembers the feeling of being stared at in public. The feeling of never again leading a normal teenage life. The feeling of her baby kicking inside her belly as she tried to concentrate in class.

But she didn’t care. It was her life, her decision, and her burden to bear.

Laurie said her daughter has handled Abbie differently that she expected.

“I expected her to be immature and treat this baby like a baby doll,” Laurie said. “But, surprisingly, she has really stepped up to the plate. She is up with her in the night and takes care of her when she cries. She goes to school and has her first real job.”

The care-free teenager who loved to challenge curfew and live on the edge is long since forgotten as Savannah assumes her latest role as a young mother. According to Savannah, she now mostly has friends who are also teen moms as many of her school friends stopped hanging out with her. She said that this experience helped her to find out who her true friends were because those who cared stood behind her during her pregnancy while others didn’t want to have to put up with her having a baby. Savannah is now part of a teen mom group at her church.

“A year ago, she was sneaking out and doing things that we would not have approved,” Laurie said. “She has really grown up in this year. I watched her go from a disrespectful, depressed, wanting-no-part-of-our-family teenager to an upbeat, responsible, loving mom.”

Though emotions ran high throughout her pregnancy, Savannah said her parents have been the most supportive. They take part in caring for baby Abbie by occasionally picking her up from daycare, occasionally changing and feeding her, and sometimes looking after her.

Savannah and her parents now live by Abbie’s schedule. While most teenagers are probably still in bed, her day begins at 6 a.m. when she gets herself and Abbie ready for the day. School at the Lewisville Learning Center begins at 8:35 a.m. and goes until 12:35 p.m. She then has has 25 minutes to get to Grapevine Mills Mall for work. She works until 6 p.m. and is in bed at 7:30 p.m. when Abbie goes to bed. Staying out late is no longer an option. Savannah has little to no time for anything but school, work and her baby girl.

A recent graduate from the Lewisville Learning Center, Savannah plans to pursue radiology at NCTC in order to become a sonogram technician due to the impact left upon her when she had her sonograms.

“I want to work in hospitals because when I had my sonograms, I thought it was the cutest thing,” Savannah said. “I’d love to be able to tell people what they’re having and see their faces.”

However, college wasn’t always on her agenda.

“A year ago, I wouldn’t have said I was going to college,” Savannah said. “I would probably say I was going to be working at some club. All my friends worked at Darkside and I used to go there a lot. I’d probably say I’d be working there.  No college, dropped out of high school, and trying to make it on my own.”

Savannah said that she acknowledges her challenge as a teen mom and keeps her head high. She said she hopes to have a successful career and will always keep baby Abbie in her decisions as far as relationships due to what she has learned from past experiences. Although her ex-boyfriend has seen Abbie a few times, he does not play a big role in either of their lives.

Savannah advises potential teen moms to be safe because not everyone can handle the lifestyle and obstacles that come with a teenage pregnancy.

“If people think that teenage pregnancies are just for low income families or divorced families, they are mistaken,” Laurie said. “It could happen to anyone. We would not trade Abbie for the world, but Savannah has a hard life in front of her. We will help out, but she will always have someone else to think about in all of her decisions.”