INTRODUCTION:

Pregnancy is a unique, exciting and often joyous time in a woman's life, as it highlights the woman's amazing creative and nurturing powers while providing a bridge to the future. Pregnancy comes with some cost, however, for a pregnant woman needs also to be a responsible woman so as to best support the health of her future child. The growing fetus (the term used to denote the baby-to-be during early developmental stages) depends entirely on its mother's healthy body for all needs. Consequently, pregnant women must take steps to remain as healthy and well nourished as they possibly can. Pregnant women should take into account the many health care and lifestyle considerations described in this document. A pregnancy occurs when reproductive cells from a man and a woman's body become combined inside a woman's uterus. The normal way that this occurs is through sexual intercourse, where the man's penis enters the woman's vagina and ejaculates sperm (the male reproductive cells) into the vagina during the process of orgasm or sexual climax. Microscopic though they are, the sperm are able to move around within the vagina, and make their way through the cervix and into the uterus where, if the timing is just right, a female ovum or egg (the female reproductive cell) is waiting. Sexually mature adult females ovulate (produce eggs) once each month as a part of their normal menstrual cycle. The sperm compete to penetrate the outer membrane or covering of the egg which seals off permanently once a single sperm makes its way inside. The new sperm and egg combination next exchange genetic material to form a unique blueprint for a new human being, producing a fertilized egg that will later attach itself to the wall of the uterus and start growing into a new human being if all goes well. Conception is said to occur at the moment the egg and sperm combine. Though intercourse is the normal method through which an egg and a sperm get together, modern reproductive medicine has opened up new possibilities. Today, eggs can be directly removed from a woman's ovaries, and combined with sperm outside of the uterus through a process called in vitro fertilization. The artificially fertilized egg is then put back into the woman's body so that an otherwise normal pregnancy may take place. Though discussion of in vitro fertilization is outside the scope of this document, we mention it because the development of this technology has made it possible for otherwise infertile couples to become pregnant.

Literature Review Teenage pregnancy rates have gone up over the years. This is due to our exposure to sexual content on television and our lack of sexual orientation we give our kids or our parents give us. Teenage pregnancy has been labeled as a major social and health problem and has become a key policy area in several industrialized countries. In England, current policy aims to have teenage pregnancy rates for under-18s by 2010, and to reduce teenage parents risk of social exclusion by supporting their participation in education, training and employment (Shaw, M., & Lawlor, D., 2007). Some research show that early teenage pregnancy is influenced because of loneliness, rejection, stigma and not being able to trust others, emotions which seriously influenced their decisions about becoming parents. Also the outcomes of teenage pregnancy and parenthood are by no means routinely negative early pregnancy is also associated with poverty and unemployment. The poor life chances generally experienced by young people in care, therefore, are likely to be compounded by teenage pregnancy. In other research they have found that peer pressure is one of the major reasons for teenage pregnancy.