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Kaya Lambert was 16 when she first met Johnny Lewis. It was summer, a time for teens to have fun and meet new people. The two began dating after they met that July.

When Kaya went to the doctor the following summer, just after her 17th birthday, she was shocked to learn that she was six weeks pregnant.

"Me, pregnant?" she thought.

It didn't seem fair. Johnny was her very first boyfriend, and it felt like something had been taken away from her too soon.

Kaya's mother, Alesia, had been a teen mother herself.

Kaya's older sister was born when Alesia was 16 years old, and Kaya's grandmother had given birth to Alesia at age 16 as well.

It's a familiar pattern; studies indicate that daughters of teen mothers are 83 percent more likely to one day become teen mothers themselves.

Even after she found out her status, Kaya still had trouble believing it. She couldn't get used to the idea of being pregnant, and couldn't talk to people about it without crying.

She found some joy in caring for a puppy born to her grandmother's dog — the one of seven to survive. Kaya named it Miracle. She'd feed the puppy from a bottle every four hours and wake for feedings in the middle of the night — something she would do later for her son.

But as much as she loved the puppy, the stress of caring for Miracle would often make Kaya break down and cry.

But in those months, it seemed every little thing would make her eyes start to well up. Looking back on it, she now knows that she was suffering from depression throughout much of her pregnancy.

She had support from her mother and from Johnny. When he found out Kaya was pregnant, he moved in with her at Alesia's house, dropped out of school, and started working.

At Graham High School, the guidance counselors and school nurse gave her an especially large amount of support.

If Kaya needed a ride to school, they would pick her up, and if she got sick and needed to go home, they would drop her off. They gave her baby clothes, and one even came to Kaya's baby shower.

The women made Kaya realize that other people, outside of her family, could truly care.

But her depression took over as the months of her pregnancy wore on, and Kaya began separating herself from her friends. Going out was hard, considering that most adults she saw would press her with accusatory questions.

As her due date approached, Kaya knew she would have to give up her beloved dog, Miracle. When she finally did give the dog away, she missed it terribly, and had a difficult time adjusting to its absence in the weeks that followed.

After she gave birth to Jaquill, little things continued to set Kaya off. Even with a new baby in her life, she was continuing to mourn for Miracle nearly all the time.

"I miss my dog," Kaya told her grandmother. "And how can I be thinking about a dog when I just had a baby?"

She finally realized that she was suffering from postpartum depression. In the weeks and months that followed, Kaya cried every day and felt tired all the time. She fought with Alesia and Johnny constantly, and minor problems would cause her to have enormous meltdowns.

Though she returned to school, her depression made it difficult to concentrate and affected her memory. She eventually returned to homebound education, which she had done in the final months of her pregnancy.

Kaya tried calling her friends again and going out to have fun, but it wasn't the same. She felt odd and strange, like she was different from everyone else. She didn't feel or look the way they did. It felt as if they had more life than her.

"You do get a lot taken from you," Kaya says now. "You're right there when you're about to hit life.

I don't think I really experienced life. I just think I didn't get a chance."

Depression is an illness that can take years to defeat, and Kaya is still fighting hard. She has good days and bad days, but she no longer cries every day, as she did in the past.

Near the end of last May, Kaya, Johnny and Jaquill moved out of Alesia's house and into their own apartment. Johnny is planning to take classes for his GED at Alamance Community College (ACC), and Kaya is preparing for her senior year of high school.

After she graduates, Kaya hopes to take business classes at ACC so that she can one day open her own hair salon and dance studio.

Postpartum Depression

Any woman who has recently had a baby may experience postpartum depression. But studies indicate that teen mothers may be more likely to experience emotional stress during pregnancy and postpartum depression after delivery.

In a 2004 study in Utah, 35.7 percent of 15- to 19-year-old mothers experienced emotional stress during pregnancy. Up to
13 percent of all new mothers suffer from postpartum depression, accoring to The New England Journal of Medicine.

Symptoms include crying, inability to concentrate, extreme fatigue, insomnia, feelings of hopelessness, fear of being alone, suicidal thoughts, inability to enjoy favorite activities and misplacing items. Physical symptoms may include headaches, neck pain or chest tightness.

Therapy, medication and natural techniques, such as swimming, yoga or massage, may all help alleviate the stress of postpartum depression.