Although senior Kayla Kinnaman believes that the coronavirus has made this school more stressful, it has opened up some extra time for her to spend with her daughter, Skylar. 

  “Actually, it is sort of fun,” Kinnaman said. “because I get to see her every day.”

As Kinnaman balances having a full time job and being a full time student, she also has the responsibility of being a full time mother to her six-month-old. With all of these responsibilities, Kinnaman says she often feels overwhelmed trying to balance everything. 

“I am already stressed out and it’s only the fourth week of school,” Kinnaman said. 

When Kayla first found out she was pregnant, only her best friend, junior Victoria Long, and boyfriend, Christoper Smith, knew at the time. Kinnaman’s family didn’t know until she was 14 weeks pregnant.  

“I was kind of just shocked,” Long said. “It came out as a big surprise.”

Kinnaman found out she was pregnant on June 12, 2019 and delivered her baby on Feb. 10, 2020. Kinnaman says she was induced before her 18 hours of labor, and she didn’t feel any pain.

“It was actually really easy,” Kin said. “And I didn’t feel anything.”

Long says she felt proud of Kinnaman after the long delivery. She was extremely grateful for all of the incredible help and support her friends and family gave her. 

 “I was happy for her because it was a good change for her,” Long said. “It was something she needed.”

Kinnaman also had at-home nurses to assist her after the birth. She says she is very grateful for her large family and their effort to watch and take care of Skylar when she can’t. 

Since then, Kinnaman says she has learned a lot from becoming a mother at a young age. She believes that she found out who her genuine friends were. They were the ones who stuck around even when she was pregnant. 

“A lot of your friends really aren’t your friends,” Kinnaman said. “I lost a lot of close friends.”  

Currently, Kinnaman is still figuring out how to balance all of the variables in her life, including her new addition, Skylar. She finds that school is probably the toughest to balance, but she says she is learning and trying her best. 

  “I just have to make the time,” Kinnaman said.