Ana's Story

One morning when Ana woke up, she felt nauseous and got sick. For the next few weeks, she was queasy and sick almost every morning. During the day she felt like she had a fever and was very tired. At first she thought she may be pregnant but other things led her to rule that out. One day at breakfast she told Silvia about the way she had been feeling and Silvia took her to the doctor. She waited in the reception area while Ana went in. The doctor asked her what had been going on and she told her of her symptoms. The doctor decided to do an ultrasound to find out what the problem was. When the doctor turned off the machine, she turned to Ana and told her she was not sick. With a sigh of relief Ana thanked God. The next words she heard were unbelievable. "You are four months pregnant," said the doctor. She was sure that something was wrong and this could not be true. She started to panick and the room began to spin. Questions like how she would finish school and what would Berto think started running through her head. The next thing that came to her mind was what if the baby had HIV? She stuttered when asking the doctor this question. The doctor calmed her and told her if she took her medicines and remained healthy that everything should be fine and the baby should be healthy.

She put on her clothes and left the room. She was only sixteen years old, way too young to have a baby. She decided not to tell Silvia yet and told her everything went well. That evening, Ana went to Berto's room to tell him the news. She started laughing nervously and told him he was going to be a father. He seemed more happy than her and began to laugh. His enthusiasm comforted her. They decided that they would have to tell Silvia and Pablo so the next morning they asked to meet with them alone.

When they sat down, they told them there was something they needed to talk about with them. Nervously, Ana proclaimed that she was pregnant and Berto was the father. Silvia was very surprised and asked her how she could have done this. "You both are HIV positive, you can make each other sicker," she said. She asked them what they were thinking and told them they should have been using protection or not even doing it at all. Pablo then told Ana that she and her baby were both in danger and they could not keep a baby at the hogar. Ana's heart stopped. She had never considered having to move out away from all her friends and away from Berto. Where would she go? She began to sob and Silvia comforted her by saying they would figure things out.