I started trying for a baby at 16 and found out I was pregnant in Toby Cavery, but now I wish I’d waited

A TEEN mum has revealed she found out she was pregnant after months of trying at a Toby Carvery with her boyfriend.

Appearing on BBC Sounds Pregnant Teens podcast, 19-year-old mum Eden, from Middlesborough, revealed that she was trying to conceive for eight months before she fell pregnant at 16 with her two-year-old son Parker.

Eden began trying for a baby at 16 because she was too young to get married and it was her and her boyfriend's 'next step' [Stock image] — Eden began trying for a baby at 16 because she was too young to get married and it was her and her boyfriend’s ‘next step’ [Stock image]Credit: Getty – Contributor

Explaining how her and her ex-partner had been together for over a year at the time, Eden told host Philippa Goymer: “When you’re so young and naive, you think you’re going to be with this person forever.”

Believing that they would one day get married, Eden and her boyfriend decided that she would come off The Pill “because it was the only thing you could really do at that age” as they were too young to plan a wedding.

She continued: “It was like, we’ve been together for over a year, we think we love each other – what can we do next?

“Next, we’ll have a baby. I was on The Pill and I just stopped taking it… 8 months later, I found out I was pregnant.”

I’d been in the toilets for ages- I was sat there staring at these tests thinking, ‘oh god what have I done?’ All of a sudden, it didn’t seem like this brilliant idea anymore…

The young mum recalls how she took multiple pregnancy tests in the toilets of her local Toby Carvery – but knew the moment she saw the positive result that she wasn’t quite as ready to be a mum as she thought.

She recalled: “I’d been in the toilets for ages- I was sat there staring at these tests thinking, ‘oh god what have I done?'”

“All of a sudden, it didn’t seem like this brilliant idea anymore.”

Although her boyfriend was delighted by the news, Eden said her pregnancy “turned her mum’s world upside down” as she had recently had a baby herself.

Eden found out she was pregnant in the toilets of her local Toby CarveryCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

In the following days, Eden recalled how her mother – who was 20 when she had her – was “really upset”but fortunately came round to the idea.

When asked if she told her mother the pregnancy was planned, Eden said: “No I didn’t […] but she knows now. She looks at me like, ‘I’m not stupid. I know it was.’

Discussing her mother’s reaction, Eden added: “I was her first daughter and she wanted this amazing, perfect life for me and obviously, I think I still have [that] because Parker is amazing.

“It wasn’t that she was mad, she was just very hormonal still herself and it wasn’t what she wanted for me at the time. But now, she wouldn’t change him – she adores him.”

I was her first daughter and she wanted this amazing, perfect life for me and obviously, I think I still have that because Parker is amazing.

Looking back on her 16-year-old self now, Eden says she loves being a mum to Parker but wishes she’d waited “a bit longer” before having him.

Despite planning to get married one day, Eden and her boyfriend split when Parker was just three months old – but are still friendly.

The mum said: “Being young parents put a lot of pressure on us but I think what it was we were just trying too hard to make it work.

“We knew we weren’t working anymore, not for any specific reason – we just weren’t working, we were arguing and now we get along a lot better as friends.”

Although she sometimes still wishes Parker had both his parents living under one roof, Eden added: “I would much rather us be separated and get along and Parker seeing us happy around each other than us be in a relationship and Parker thinks, ‘do my mum and dad even like each other?'”