The pain, the pain was all I felt. It ran from my back to the lower part of my abdomen. It was consistently sharp and my body was so tense. It was my first time going through this and I didn't know if I could make it to the end. It felt never-ending; and then it just went away like that and I was filled with so much emotions and hormones rushing through my body. That was the first time I experienced LOVE. True, unconditional love. It was such a powerful moment for me, to experience so much feeling in that very moment. It was on October 11th, 2012. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Matthew. I was only 17 years old and trust me it was the hardest thing I had to do in life.

My whole pregnancy was surreal. I was getting bigger and bigger and it wasn't hitting me, that I would be a mother. I never thought I would be a mother so young.

I was in my 11th grade year when I found out. It was tough because I wasn't living at home. I was living with my boyfriend and his family. His mother wasn't exactly thrilled, but again, who would be? We didn't have our lives together, with me still being in high school and him in college. We knew life was about to get hard, real hard.

I can still remember all the labor pains. I didn't think I would survive. I mean, I never even broke a bone growing up so this pain was all new to me. It lasted 19 hours, 19 long hours. Then when it was all over I heard this little tiny cry and my heart was so full.

I grew up not knowing what love truly was. My childhood was rough, my dad wasn't around and my mother was abusive, so love wasn't something I knew; not at all. Then when I gave birth to my son, it was evident that I had witnessed first hand what love really was. Love is something you feel that is just unexplainable. Some people experience love in a variety of ways, such as, falling in love with a significant other, to loving your parents, and even when you get a pet, you learn to love them. It has been almost five years since my son’s birth and that feeling you experience just intensifies over the years. The fact that you would do anything in the world for this person, that you would put yourself second in benefit to them. This feeling is love and it is truly an indescribable emotion.