Introduction
Objective
Methods
Study design
Participants
Data collection
Data Analysis
Findings
Participant pseudonyms | Age | Gestational stage | Number of previous pregnancies |
---|---|---|---|
Mbali | 20 | Seven months pregnant | None |
Lindiwe | 23 | Eight months pregnant | None |
Busi | 19 | Four months pregnant | None |
Samantha | 19 | Three months pregnant | None |
Nomthandazo | 19 | Four weeks puerperium | None |
Bongiwe | 21 | Three months pregnant | None |
Bella | 26 | Six months pregnant | One |
Kholeka | 21 | Eight months pregnant | None |
Zevile | 23 | Five months pregnant | None |
Rachael | 22 | Five months pregnant | None |
Thuli | 21 | Eight months pregnant | None |
Njabulo | 24 | Six months pregnant | None |
Khethiwe | 24 | Four months pregnant | One |
Minenhle | 20 | Three weeks puerperium | None |
Barbara | 21 | seven months pregnant | None |
Khanyisile | 22 | nine months pregnant | One |
Thandeka | 20 | Four months pregnant | None |
Lerato | 21 | Five weeks puerperium | None |
Zinhle | 23 | Six months pregnant | None |
Thuli | 20 | Three months pregnant | None |
Liyana | 26 | Seven months pregnant | One |
Siyanda | 19 | Four months pregnant | None |
Nandi | 23 | Seven months pregnant | None |
Lindiwe | 22 | Three months pregnant | None |
Characteristics | Number of participants (Percentage) | |
---|---|---|
Age of participants | 15-19 20-24 25-30 | 4 (16.7%) 18 (75%) 2 (8.3) |
Year of study | 1st year 2nd year 3rd year Honours | 7 (29%) 9 (37.5%) 5 (21%) 3 (12.5%) |
Gestational stage | 1st month-birth Birth-6 weeks puerperium | 21 (87.5%) 3 (12.5%) |
Number of previous pregnancies | None 1 | 20 (83%) 4 (17%) |
Parents’ knowledge of pregnancy and reactions
It’s been very difficult because as am talking to you, my parents don’t know about it [the pregnancy]. They are so strict, especially my father. He is so strict. He’s staying at Joburg [city of Johannesburg], [he’s] working there. I am pretty sure that he is going to cut me off [stop paying for her studies] because of the pregnancy. I know because this has happened to my sisters. That’s what he does. I’m stressed but am trying to control it because it’s not healthy for the baby [Mbali]
Having to hide the pregnancy from my father whenever he was around was an issue. I had to suck in my stomach, and I started going to the clinic very late, I started going at five months and the nurses were very angry [Kholeka]
When my father found out that I was pregnant which was recently, he cried like a baby. My mom couldn’t talk like for a week or something. It was tough, I could not even study. I had examinations coming up in the next four days and I could not study. I would take my book, it was politics [the examination]. I would take my book and just start crying. They still can’t look at me in the eye especially my father [Samantha]
He [her father] kept saying to me “I trusted you so much and I still can’t believe it”. I started regretting and everything, as much as I had bonded with the baby. My father is a priest, so he is a well-respected man and people respect him. He doesn’t have much [he is not rich], he’s is just an average guy but people in our community do come to him for advice because he is a respectable man [Bongiwe]
Pregnancy and academic work load
I dropped so hard [referring to academic score] in first semester because it was when I found out I was pregnant, and everything was so messed up. I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t pay my full focus [attention] on my studies, I failed. When I was trying to study, I would be [feel] sleepy, I would get a book then feel drowsy and find myself sleeping so that affected me [Rachael].
Walking around has been such a hassle, even going for that one seminar is so hard- sore feet, my sore back but then that only happens now in my third trimester. But during my first trimester, my first trimester was bad cause I was so sick but then I had to force myself to go to class [Zevile]
Ah sometimes I have to sleep early and not study. I don’t know this baby (is) always tiring me hey, it’s too heavy and makes me hungry. My mother always says that I sleep too much now. I have to take some treatment (for energy) every day [Thuli]
[Previous pregnancy]-I came here maybe I was about 6 months (pregnant). When I came on campus I usually did not attend all my lectures, (I) had to miss some of my lectures because I had to visit at the clinic to check if my baby is okay. She was born on the 3rd but she was supposed to be born on the 10th so I had to make it faster (opted for a caesarian section)…. [Current pregnancy]- Sometimes I have to leave early if I feel that I have a problem with the baby inside. I have to leave and go to the hospital and my appointments are usually on the day that am attending (lectures). I have to go see the doctor sometimes [Bella]
Last year I had one sup (supplementary examination) and I did not write it in the first semester when I was pregnant. I didn’t know that I had to come back because my baby was too small. I didn’t come back to write the sup so I have to do it this year. I have to do five modules and the sup that I missed last year. I’m really studying hard this year. I don’t sleep, I don’t sleep [Bongiwe]
Financial constraints during and after pregnancy
When you’re pregnant you have to go to the clinic (antenatal clinic) each and every month and they [the clinic] are going to give you a date to come. And then when you have to go to the clinic, it happens that you don’t have money because you have to travel and get a taxi, then you don’t have money. Then I have to go around at res [student’s residence] up and down, borrowing money to go to the clinic then people will be like “I don’t have money, I don’t have money”. It’s so painful [Njabulo]
Now I have financial constraints because what [money] I get, the baby gets half and I get the other half [Bongiwe]
It’s a challenge, it’s a big challenge with finances he [father of her child] will make an issue and an issue and an issue and am like I told you I don’t work, I don’t have nothing yet [money]. So, for me that just hurts because I have realised that he just doesn’t wanna be ready and he just doesn’t care at all [Minenhle]
If your partner decides that you have to go to a government hospital because he doesn’t have money to pay, there is nothing you can do so I think it’s a very devastating position to be in [Barbara]
The circumstances surrounding the pregnancy [unintended] made it hard for us to be prepared-financially he wasn’t ready, and I wasn’t ready. Then he had to start making preparations to pay at home [damages to her parents] and he pays for all the medical bills and things financially really aren’t flowing too smooth for him. [Khanyisile]
She’s [her mother] only paying school fees and buying me clothes but not a lot of clothes. I have to wear my old clothes which are now small because of the pregnancy [Khethiwe]
Relationship problems with male partners
When I was telling my boyfriend I am pregnant, he asked me to do an abortion and I was like what the hell? I told him no, I wasn’t going to do it, so we argued. We continued dating but at the end of the day he still dumped me [Thandeka]
There was a time where we just used to fight and fight, there was a point he started disrespecting me and am like I can’t take this anymore. So, I decided to just cut off all communication and that’s what I did and stopped talking to him, cause even like now we don’t talk at all the only time I spoke to him is if I want something from him, if he doesn’t have it, then it’s okay [Lerato]
When my boyfriend left me (left her due to conflicts), I hated him! I would curse and send him sms [text] and threatening him, telling him if you don’t come back, you’ll never see your child and such and such [Busi]
I felt like he neglected me. I was so irritated and I was crying like a baby. I felt so sad and I felt like you know, I wish I was not pregnant, like at the same time I am like I love you baby [her unborn baby], but at this point in time, I wish I wasn’t pregnant [Zinhle]
He has not seen the baby from day one. I would say in a way, it’s like am just a single parent and decide for him (decisions) and the only time I get to tell him is I have decided on so and so and so. At times I don’t even consider his opinion. It’s just an opinion he won’t do anything about it [Thuli]
I got pregnant in February then towards the end of the month we broke up. So, I didn’t know like how I am going to tell the father of the baby because we already broke up. So, when I told him, he refused, he just denied my pregnancy, started calling me names, insulting (me) saying that I’ve been sleeping around. It was so painful I was crying each and every day [Liyana]
Experiences of social stigma
Facing people, it’s been hard like you know some people stare at you like they’ve never seen a pregnant person before. There are so many girls that get pregnant on campus [Siyanda]
Walking around campus is a problem now with all the stares. It angers me and I think it’s so hypocritical in a way because their stare types change when am alone it’s like “you fell pregnant and you’re still studying” and then when my boyfriend is with me, the stare type changes all the way to “oh they love each other, how sweet” [Khanyisile]
Some of my friends ignore me due to the pregnancy because they don’t wanna walk with me to school and I also see myself as totally different from them. At first, I felt so neglected now I have accepted that am pregnant and things won’t be the same. I usually walk alone. Some friends will support me, some will not [Siyanda]
I was afraid that my neighbours will see me going to the clinic especially to the maternity department and they will start gossiping about me. At first, I was like eish they gonna say bad comments, you know how people especially townships [Zevile]
Unexpected pregnancy experiences and adjustments
I thought it was lovely [pregnancy], I thought oh you get to be treated like a queen. I never really thought that unfortunately you need to toughen up, you need to pass your exams, you need to go to the clinic on your own, come home, you need to cook, you need to clean, you need to wash [Nandi].
I thought it was not something big, just the thought of having a baby, nothing much, that you have to stop certain things for that particular period of time when you’re pregnant. But when I became pregnant, it was different, like it changes the rest of your life. It’s not like that period only. It changes the rest of your life now you’ll have someone in your life, not just someone, but someone in a different way- someone who belongs to you, your responsibility, so that is a lifelong process and it’s not easy to accept [Lindiwe]
So far being pregnant at a young age is not an easy thing cause we as youngsters we like partying, drinking, wearing short things so when you are pregnant when you are young, life tends to be not like it was before. Right now I have to wear something long, comfortable for the baby and also for me, the things I eat, I don’t have to go to parties anymore [Njabulo].