I'm 20 years old and I am a mother to my 5 month old son, Jacoby Joseph Mienko. We live with his daddy in a little, ugly blue house on a semi-busy street in a working class neighborhood. It's not much but it's home for now.
I found out I was pregnant on July 4th, 2010. I was going through some bad things, so Shaun (boyfriend/Jacoby's daddy) and I took a break and I moved in with my parents in Texas for the first 3 months of my pregnancy.
Let me tell you, being pregnant sucked at first. Every morning I couldn't do anything else until I got sick in the bathroom. Then throughout the day, everything made me feel queasy, especially eggs, milk, and anything mayonnaise-based. Finally after 4 months, the sickness just went away. POOF! Just like that. Gone. Of course I didn't complain, nope not one bit. It was just in time for me to move back up to Ohio with my soul mate. We had worked out our problems over the phone over the course of the 4 months, and were ready to move back in together. The 21 hour drive was not too bad, it went by pretty quickly, and I got some much needed alone time in the hotel that night. Living with your parents, grandparents, and two brothers does not leave much room for privacy or rest.
Long story short, my pregnancy went by problem-free, and I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy at 2:30pm on March 2nd, 2011 after 18 hours of labor. He was 8 lbs 10 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. The first night in the hospital was just fine. I started out breastfeeding, and we couldn't have done better our first time. Once they wheeled me and Jacoby into our room, everyone visited for a while and then went home to get some rest. Shaun had to go home to feed our dog and get some things for the stay at the hospital, and before I knew it, I was alone with Jacoby for the very first time. I have never felt more scared and helpless in my life. We ended up both falling asleep while I was breastfeeding. I had been up for over 24 hours by then. The first night, he slept all night and I kept having to wake him up to feed him. The second night, he was up until 4 in the morning. The nurse finally took him from me so I could catnap for a couple hours before having to breastfeed. The next day we were sent home, and boy I was so glad to finally be going home to my bed.
