By Kahmaria
In the beginning of my freshman year of high school I fell in love with a boy that I thought would be my one and only true love. He was my first boyfriend, my first kiss, and the first boy I had sex with. If I knew then what I know now, I would have waited much longer to have sex and stopped myself from the heartache and pain from not being ready or prepared.
When I started having sex with my (so-called boyfriend) we weren’t using any type of protection. I thought since he was my first and because I was under the impression he was being faithful, I trusted him enough to have unprotected sex.
At the time, I was more worried about STDS, and I wasn’t thinking about protecting myself from an unwanted pregnancy. I had very little knowledge about birth control. I even thought that there was an age requirement on getting it.
One day I realized that I hadn’t gotten my period in the last month-and-a-half. Not getting my period and knowing that I was having unprotected sex scared me enough to take action so that that was the one and only pregnancy scare that I ever would have. I learned more about the different birth control methods by visiting www.teensource.org/birth-control. After learning about all the different methods, such as the IUD, the pill, Depo, the implant, the patch, and more, I took a look at what would best fit my schedule and what I was most comfortable with.
I decided to start the pill, because I knew I would be responsible with taking the pill on time everyday. And now with pregnancy scares out of the picture, it will be much easier to have a safer, healthier, and more enjoyable sex life when I feel ready.