I never thought it would happen to me

Anabella was just starting her final year of school, getting ready to work for her GCSEs, when she found she was pregnant

"I was on the Pill," says 17-year-old Annabella, now mother of Maya, a beautiful 16-month-old baby. "But that summer, when I was 15, I started going out with my friends drinking. There was so much stuff going on in my life, and I was completely off the rails."

Annabella says that she'd sometimes forget to take her pill, which meant she was unprotected for her whole cycle. Like most young mothers (and many older ones), she says "I never thought it would happen to me". And for a while she was lucky.

Then, at the end of the summer, she went on holiday to Spain, and started to feel ill. "I thought it was the heat, but I kept wondering 'Why do I wake up in the morning, feeling sick?" She got back from the holiday, determined to turn her life around. She was about to start her final year of high school, doing her GCSEs.

"I realised I'd been concentrating too hard on my social life, and thought, 'I'm going to prove to everyone that I can do this.' I was going to stop bunking school and pull myself together."

Later that week, she found out she was pregnant. "It seemed like a dream," she says. "I didn't really feel anything. I didn't feel happy or worried.". She talked to her boyfriend, and they decided to keep the baby and tell their parents.

"When the baby was born, it was a nightmare," says Annabella. "The birth was horrible. Afterwards, it was like a dark cloud hanging over me. I loved Maya, but realised that this was going to be my whole life."

Three days after the birth, Anabella's family came round to celebrate. At the end of the day, she broke down at the kitchen table and started to cry.

"I was thinking, 'Oh my God, I can hardly look after myself, how am I going to look after this other human being?' All these thoughts started coming into my head, imagining if she had an accident and died, or cot death. I was just overwhelmed with worry. All my family were crying. They told me to go to bed, and tucked me into my bed at home, in my pyjamas, like I was a little girl again."

But very quickly, Anabella came to terms with her new life.

"You get another rush of hormones, and wake up every morning thinking, 'Look at my lovely baby!' She smiles at me and learns things, and you see that what you're doing makes them grow and be healthy."

Annabella then found out that Brent provides a huge range of services for mothers, and started going to groups and meeting other mums in her position. But she's been disappointed by the reaction of some of her friends.

"I felt so alone, so lost," she says. "I didn't know what was happening to me or my body and I wanted my girlfriends around to support me but they were going out raving."

Since leaving home, Anabella lives in one room in a hostel overlooking Cricklewood Broadway. It's clean and safe, but Anabella is thinking about the future. Nine out of ten teenage mums have to live on benefits, but she's determined to be part of the other ten per cent.

"I want to have a good career so that Maya can look up to me. It's made me really focused. I want to do psychology, and maybe work with young offenders. There are so many services available that if you want to go back to college and get an education, you can't use the baby as an excuse any more."

Although she loves Maya, Anabella's advice for other teenagers is clear. "If you're having sex, screw your head on and think of the consequences. It can happen to you."