The fruits of our labor

                                                     

The other day, I was at the Bronx office when this girl arrived. She was young, just turned 19 and she had a shy attitude but I invited her in and she smiled me back.

From that moment on I knew that we were gonna understand it each other. We start talking about her: her story, her situation, her family, her past. She told me that a couple of years ago she was pregnant and her family made her an appointment for an abortion and force her to do it. She has been regretting it every single day. She confessed me that she is glad and surprised about the warming atmosphere that our office has, despite of our youth or the difficulties that some of the spanish interns has with the language we try to make everybody comfortable and confident. They must feel that they are at some place of peace, where they can be themselves and that there is no need for them to be afraid or ashamed of what they have done or they were planning to do.

And that is what Iove the most about this job. That there is no judgement, we accept them as they are (and I must say that they accept us to, because hey, who says that been a spaniard in New York City was going to be easy?) so I told her not to worry and she took another pregnancy test and we confirm that she is pregnant. Ok, let's take a deep breath, "this is magnificent"-I told her" You have been given a new chance, and this time you are not going to let your family decide for you. You are making the decisions, this is your baby, growing inside of you, and no one has the right to force you into anything.

Those words gave her strength, or maybe she was a really brave girl, gee she must be a warrior. She began to tell me about her plans for that baby, about her finishing school this year and getting a job. About her taking her of this baby, her baby. And she was excited. I asked her if her family was going to support her this time and she said that probably not, that her mom was sometimes threating her saying she would kick her out if she got pregnant again. I told her about maternity houses and the Sisters of Life. Groups or asociations that are focused on giving shelter to pregnant women until they give birth and 6 months later, places where they help them find a job; and she was happy and she take note of everything.

Then she leaves with an appointment for an ultrasound in our Brooklyn office next week and she told me to stay in touch.

I hope this story encourages more people to come and help because these are fruits of our labor, this is our reward and these are the babies and the women we are helping. This is real.