TRAVERSE CITY -- Libby Ockert and Peter Gary sat in the front room of their mobile home and clapped out pattycake.
The teenage couple are not playing house. Evenings like this are typical since their son was born four months ago. Peter returns from his job at a local restaurant; Libby finishes up at Traverse City High School. Back at home on this week night, they cuddle the baby, give him a bottle, change a diaper. Baths are every other night. Bedtime is 8:30 or 9 p.m.
Life looks very different since Libby, 18, found out she was pregnant.
"My reaction was, 'Well, how am I going to do this?' I didn't have a job ... my life was going down the toilet," she said. "I wanted to keep him because I am old enough to have those maternal instincts. My life doesn't revolve around me and my future anymore. It revolves around my son's future and his well-being."
For young parents, raising a child presents a host of challenges. Where will mother and baby live? Is the father involved? Will the parents marry? How will the teens finish school, pay for supplies, learn parenting skills? Some young mothers experienced domestic violence or sexual assault, are "anti-authority," or don't want to go to school, said Shelley Burnes, coordinator of The Doula Program of the Women's Resource Center.
Teen trends
From politics to pop culture, pregnant teenagers are popping up everywhere.
That talk crescendoed this year with the high-profile pregnancies of Bristol Palin, teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Jamie Lynn Spears, star of a wholesome Nickelodeon TV show and sister to media magnet Britney Spears. Add to the mix reports of a "pregnancy pact" among more than a dozen girls at a Massachusetts high school and the success of the movie "Juno." The film depicts the pregnancy of a loquacious and likable teen portrayed by actress Ellen Page, who received an Oscar nomination for the role.
But girls have gotten pregnant long before Juno pulled on a striped, belly-bulging shirt.
In Michigan, the teen pregnancy rate increased from 2005 to 2006, the first time it's gone up in more than a decade. In 2006, there were an estimated 672 more pregnancies among Michigan girls ages 15 to 19 than the year before.
Longer-term trends point downward. The state's teen pregnancy rate decreased substantially since 1980. That year, 87.9 pregnancies were reported per 1,000 girls. In 2006, the most recent data, the pregnancy rate was 54 per 1,000 females. The number of Michigan 15- to 19-year-olds giving birth dropped from 20,000 in 1980 to 12,322 in 2006, and 9,383 fewer teens sought an abortion in 2006 than in 1980.
The reasons behind the pregnancy rate decline are not clear to Kara Anderson, teen pregnancy prevention consultant for the Michigan Department of Community Health, which reports the statistics. Factors could include more abstinence, family planning, prevention and sex education programming during the last quarter of a century.
"There's been so much going on (in) the U.S. as well as Michigan it's really hard to pinpoint it to something specific," she said.
Anderson also cannot tell why pregnancy rates ticked up in 2006.
At a youth health center located on the campus of the Career-Tech Center in Traverse City, eight of the 43 pregnancy tests administered this year were positive. Most of the women already have taken a home test, sometimes with different results, said the adolescent health coordinator.
Pregnant: Now what
Education and support are critical to successful teen parenting.
The Doula Program works with expectant and young mothers from its base at Traverse City High School. Its aim is to keep families intact, even if it is just baby and mom, Burnes said. She noted some societal changes in the last generation. People are "more forgiving and less judgmental" about pregnant teens, there are more programs and parents don't abandon expectant teenagers "as often as they used to," she said.
Still, teen parents face tremendous obstacles. Young moms often want more for their children than they can provide. They may have poor credit or no credit and may not be ready to live on their own.
Doula provides support groups and matches teen moms with experienced mentors. Kristy Tupper of Traverse City volunteered because she knows what it's like to be a young mother and remembers those looks from strangers who wondered about her age. Tupper was 17 when she got pregnant. It's now a decade later, and she managed to be the first in her family to finish college.
Tupper encourages teens to build healthy relationships with their partners. She also offers hope, telling young mothers, "that it's OK, and that she'll be OK. That it's a hard time, but she'll make it."
Northwestern Michigan College professor John R. Zachman was in eleventh grade when his son was born. He described his former self as "somewhat of a slacker," but fatherhood had a "profound effect" on who he is and how he thinks. He enrolled at James Madison College at Michigan State University and later went on to graduate school. Parenthood for Zachman and his future wife was made easier by a supportive family who gave "unconditional love" and acceptance, but he felt the social pressure nonetheless.
"In a way it kind of politicized me. There's a whole lot of stigma ... attached to being a teenage parent. People don't understand that challenge," he said.
Zachman thinks education is the key to being a successful teen parent, and said it's not out of reach, no matter the teen's family or financial situation.
"What these kids really need is access to information that will help them access the resources, so that they can have as good a shot as possible," he said.
Expectations
Libby and Peter described their relationship as a "prolonged" engagement.
There is no wedding date set. It's been a busy year.
Libby delivered their son in July. Just weeks before she went to prom in a sparkly dress that stretched over her pregnant stomach. She and Peter moved into their house. Libby attended graduation ceremonies, again with the pronounced bump poking from her gown. This fall, she continued to go to the alternative high school, where she had credit to complete.
At school one day, another girl, expecting but not yet showing, approached Libby, and the two started chatting instantly. Her classmates ask a lot of questions, about breast feeding, the pain of childbirth. They want to know: Were the nurses nice?
Peter is about to turn 20, and, oh, how life is changed. On a recent night, he tried to soothe a fussy baby as Libby readied a bottle. Peter summarized the infant's moods as one of three: happy, unhappy or asleep.
"Live it up while you don't have a kid," he advised.
Although they took parenting classes and toured the hospital before the birth, the couple never felt "fully prepared" for the baby's arrival. The two gained more trust in each other since the baby was born.
They will continue to face challenges as their baby grows. Libby is currently unemployed and arranging daily transportation is tricky. Right now, the couple are trying to do the best they can for their son.
"I hope he gets to do something that (he) enjoys. If he wants to be a science geek in school, let him be a science geek. If he wants to be in drama, let him be in school plays. I want him to enjoy life," Libby said.
2006 pregnancy statistics by county among females ages 15 to 19
-- Antrim (758 total females in age group): 25 live births, 2 abortions, 5 estimated miscarriages
-- Benzie (495 total females in age group): 16 live births, 9 abortions, 4 estimated miscarriages
-- Charlevoix (817 total females in age group): 20 live births, 1 abortion, 4 estimated miscarriages
-- Emmet (1,123 total females in age group): 28 live births, 5 abortions, 6 estimated miscarriages
-- Grand Traverse (2,719 total females in age group): 74 live births, 21 abortions, 17 estimated miscarriages
-- Kalkaska (531 total females in age group): 24 live births, 2 abortions, 5 estimated miscarriages
-- Leelanau (770 total females in age group): 8 live births, 3 abortions, 2 estimated miscarriages
-- Wexford (1,033 total females in age group): 57 live births, 8 abortions, 12 estimated miscarriages
Source: Michigan Department of Community Health
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