As you walk down the halls at school, you're probably just thinking about homework, after-school activities, and the big plans for next weekend. But these thoughts aren't likely to fill the minds of the nearly one million teen girls who unintentionally get pregnant a year, and the guys who help start the pregnancies.

They walk down the halls worrying about how to tell their parents that they (or their girlfriends) are pregnant. They worry about their options-give the baby up for adoption? Abortion? Raise a baby at 15, 16, or 17 years old? If they keep it, they worry about how to get money to pay for their babies' needs, or how to manage a baby and school at the same time.

I interviewed three young parents who've been there. They've experienced, first hand, the realities of unintended pregnancy. They describe parenthood as harder than they would've ever imagined. Today, they work for the Teen Parent Panel Program, developed by the Teen Pregnancy Coalition of San Mateo County, CA. They speak to 8-12th graders in San Mateo County schools about unintended pregnancy, parenthood, and the consequences of unprotected sex.

Here are their stories:

When Mayra Chavez was 15, she was living in Mexico with her 21-year-old boyfriend. They had unprotected sex and she got pregnant. She went back to California to live with her parents and have the baby. Her son is now one year old.

"I kept the baby because I didn't know how hard it was going to be to have a baby. I thought the baby was just going to be cute, and I thought everyone was just going to be talking about how cute it was," says Mayra, now 17. The father of Chavez's son is in jail now, so he can't support Mayra or their baby. Luckily, Chavez's parents are supportive and help take care of her son. This allows Mayra to stay in high school.

What does Mayra tell young people about unintended pregnancy?

"If you're going to have sex, use protection. Don't just use a condom; use the birth control pill and the condom. I wish I had used protection," she says.

Camellia is 16 years old. She has a two-month-old son. The 19-year-old father of her baby is helping to raise him.

"Having a baby is not what you think. You think 'Oh what a pretty little cute baby,' and you think that's it, but it's much more. It's hard taking care of a baby. You have to wake up in the middle of the night, feed him, change diapers. Sometimes you can't get babies to be quiet because they just want to cry."

When I ask her what messages she gives other young people, Camellia says: "Always use protection or wait until you're ready. If you're pressured to have sex, say 'no,' because you don't know what's gonna end up happening. You could get a sexually transmitted disease [STD] or get pregnant."

Many guys believe that unintended pregnancy will never affect them, because they can't actually get pregnant. S. Sullivan, a 19-year-old dad, can tell you this isn't the case.

Sullivan got an old girlfriend pregnant when he was 15. He didn't realize the consequences of unprotected sex.

"I didn't even know I could get her pregnant. I didn't have the proper education. I thought my body wasn't able to produce a baby at that age," he says.

He remembers being a "follower" at 15 years old.

"It was peer pressure to have sex. There's a lot of peer pressure. Everybody wants to be the player. Everybody's trying to see who's best most of the time. That's how teens get pregnant. They want to do grown-up stuff and be adults too fast," says Sullivan.

His daughter, Deja, is now three years old. Although he doesn't live with her mother, who's 21, they share custody of their child.

Sullivan knows how hard it is to be a young dad.

"Being a teen parent is different for girls, because the girls' friends want to do stuff with the baby. But, for me, friends don't come to change diapers. They'll call me, and I'll say, 'I got my daughter,' and they'll say, 'Talk to you tomorrow.' "

He says making money to support Deja is a "constant struggle."

"Having a child is a big sacrifice; it takes a lot of time and money. Financial stability is the worst. Being a young age, it's hard to get money, because McDonald's won't cut it at minimum wage," he adds.

In order to make money, Sullivan dropped out of school when Deja was born. Eventually, he was able to get his GED; he's going to start college in the fall.

What does he tell the young people he educates now?

"It's not just a baby that can ruin your life; it's STDs, too. There are a lot of STDs out there. There are consequences to everything, so think about the consequences before you do something. Be protected, be safe."

Emily Chaloner, 16, of Ridgewood, NJ, is an editor for SEX, ETC., the national newsletter and Web site written by teens, for teens, on sexual health issues, published by the Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

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