I first got here about three and a half years ago - Finn was still really little and we were living in Austin. I found it, actually, through Alli's obituary, which came up when I was google searching the bookstore "Bookwoman." Girlmom became a HUGE support for me at that point in my life, though at this point I see my role here as more of an ally, b/c I'm already 23 years old.

I think that once some of the kinks of the attack/switch are worked out (username switches, etc.), it will be a lot easier to build the community back up, and bring back members who were active on the old boards and on the temporary board.

I was 17 and in high school. Cae was almost a year old and I was going through my separation from his dad. GM helped me so much. I can't wait for it to back to it's full force awesomeness.

I was 19 and pregnant with Jayden. wow that was a long time ago. Jayden will be 5 in july. so about 5 years I have been here. Girl mom was my crutch when I was stuck with j's dad who was abusive and when he left me 9 months pregnant.

Chey was between 6 and 9 months when I first found girlmom. This was in 2001! From what I remember, Alli posted on the msg board I was posting at and convinced me to check GM out. I'm 25 now, and she's 8 so we've been around for a loooong time.

I saw a link on the I-am-pregnant.com website when I was pregannt and checked out the stories on this site... only in the last couple of weeks have I actually stayed up to date on here.

I actually posted here the first time when I was seventeen. I miscarried and stopped posting. Forgetting about the site. Two years later, I found myself pregnant. Someone on LJ told me about the site. It really helped me get through when I was pregnant and my parents were being HORRIBLE. Now, I've been here three years. I'm getting OLD. Heh.

It was 2003 back on the old boards, when ian was about 3 wks old. my stepdad was abusive and trying to control how i raised my son and i was very confused about my rights. i dont know what i wuold have done without girlmom. i lost internet when ian was about 14 months or so, and stopped posting. then when my second child was about 8months my dad gave us a computer and we got internet. the first thing i did was go onto girlmom! that was in 2007. so ive been here awhile now. i dont have many irl friends and even less who understand me, girlmom is amazing for that! i would love to see the site back up and going. i miss there being a new post every few hours!!! it was soooo busy back them!

I dont remember exactly when I got on GM. I do remember that it was when I was in highschool. Julie, who used to post here, was interning in our communities and schools department and I was student/mama friends irl with Adcaela who made me get on.

I was 18 and pregnant with my first baby, when I came here in 2005....soo I have been here just over 4 years. This is the longest I have ever stuck with a message board!!

I was 21 when I found gm. I wish I had found it sooner, like when I was actually a pregnant teen, lol.
I really love this place. I've met so many cool girls on here! I'm kind of sad that a lot of them don't post anymore, though I do still keep in touch with some of them.

I think I found GM in 2005, so I was 22 I guess. My youngest was about a year old. I don't know how I didn't come across it sooner, I spent years looking for communities for young moms online. Like GG said, it sure would have been nice to find this site when I was actually a pregnant teen.

I think more than anything, this site opened my eyes to a lot of issues that I never really paid attention to and helped me do a lot of unlearning. I really hope we can work out all of the problems and get this place back to what it used to be.

It was back on the old black boards in either late 2002 or early 2003 when I first found girlmom. I was 19 and caring for Cass about 50% of the time. I stuck around though remained pretty inactive until I had bio kids.

I was 16 and had just found out I was pregnant with Alexa, it was in 2003.

It was early 2005... I was pregnant with Ais and wondering what I was going to do.

That was a LONG time ago!!!!

I have learnt so much from you all... and I still have so much to learn.

I found GM in 2003 when I was pregnant. I have been with GM for 6+ years!!!! AHHHH! It was around the same time as Danielle.

I now am almost 26, almost done with my master's, and married to my BD. Not too, too much has changed, except for my daughter- a now almost 5 year old who will be attending kindergarten in the fall. Eek!

Wooow it's been a while lol. I found GM during a preg scare, I wasn't even pregnant. I was just reading everything though and loved all of the information I had for when/ if I had a baby. Then a few months later I was actually preg and I spent over an hour trying to google these forums because I didn't remember the name. GM was a big help when I decided to have my abortion, and then I stayed around for another year or so before I got pregnant again, and now K is 3 months. I def miss the old GM, it was so active, but I'm glad it's picking back up

I came to girlmom- maybe around 2003? I would have been 28, Kiddo would have been 12. I was still in that PhD program- but I think I dropped out of the program within a year of finding girmom (three or four family members died- I was in the middle of a depression- trying to homeschool kiddo while finishing my program requirements). I stopped being active on the boards shortly before Alli passed away. I miss her a lot- she was the founder- and had a radical political sensibility combined with an awesomely big heart. Then for a while the boards changed and got impossibly slow to navigate. They seem better now. I learned a lot here- made some great friends- had some super challenging conversations. I'm sure new and current GM's will continue to benefit in the same way.

I think I was nineteen, and my oldest was 2. I was living in a really bad situation, totally isolated, and needed a friend more than anything in the world. I found girl mom by doing a google search, and fell in love with the site! I only wish I had found it a few years earlier!

I'm not around that much anymore. My kids are 9 and 5 now, and I'm 27, and my life is sooo busy! Plus, I'm actually happy now.

I found girlmom through Julie and another - we were both living at the University of Texas student family housing - back in 2003. I had just moved to Austin and my daughter was just over 1 year.

I also can't wait to see gm growing to what it used to be!!!

I think this is such a great community & wish that I had learned of it when i was first pregnant.

Trish

I only joined a few months ago =) But with my situation, I'll be 18 on the 17th, this site was something I was looking for. Positivity, a place where I could be viewed as another woman and not just a pregnant teenager. I haven't been the most active just because of a busy lifestyle, but I almost wish I could have been able to meet the founder of this website. I live in a town and have no friends. I haven't exactly had the opportunity to meet people here, and I'm too nervous to go and meet any of the other teen moms here. I'm very reclusive, and any time I've ever started to feel negative about my decision this site has always brought me back up. I know I'm going to stay around even after the baby's born, and try to make an effort to get to know everyone better. You've all been so wonderful to me. And I can't express how much it means to me.

The first way I was able to meet mama friends was to join baby playgroups. I started out with age based playgroups, and then resonated really well with an attachment parenting group. I also got some great support from a La Leche League group.

Thanks very much =) I definitely know that being pregnant is a huge ice breaker for a lot of my friends. In my opinion, I'm no different than I was 20 weeks ago other than the simple fact I have a life growing inside of me, but I find that my friends are now awkward-ed out by this very small fact. I may have lost some friends, but in a sense I can accept it because it means they aren't mature enough to handle something as wonderful as maternity and becoming a parent. It's human nature, I feel more human now than ever. I just wish they could see that. This site has been such a help to me just for the simple fact that I'm not alone and I can talk about my pregnancy with people who can relate and offer advice. =)

LLL was huge for me too.
I lost pretty much all my friends when I was pregnant (partially my choosing though). You will make new friends in time!

I found GM when I was 17 - I had just miscarried a secret pregnancy, and told my wonderfully supportive cousin (I am her son and daughters godparent, some of you may remember), who sent me here by way of HipMama. I didn't join for many months, as I felt a little out of place not actually being a teen mom. I noticed there were a few Kidless Allies, so I got up the nerve to join, but posted infrequently. I just didn't think I had much to say, since I didn't have a baby. I got pregnant again at 19 and now I have two kids of my own. I have learned so much here about intolerance and women's rights. I'm so so glad I joined.