It’s a decision like no other.
When faced with an unplanned pregnancy — twins at that — Joelle Daily of Marysville had a lot of questions, but not a lot of answers.
She was young. Could she keep her babies? Or was abortion or adoption the way to go?
When she was three months along, her doctor suggested she visit Everett’s Pregnancy Resource Center, a nondenominational faith-based organization.
The center, now with a new branch in Monroe, provides free pregnancy tests, along with education and support for girls and women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Speaking to women at the center — including other women in her situation — helped Daily make up her mind. She couldn’t go through with an abortion, especially after hearing her twins’ heartbeats. And after carrying them for months, she couldn’t give them up.
She decided the best thing for her was to keep her daughters.
Not only did the Pregnancy Resource Center provide guidance for her difficult decision, Daily was able to get loads of baby supplies, including cribs, a double stroller, car seats and diapers.
"They made it possible," she said of the center. "They teach you everything you need to know to have a baby. They taught me how to do everything."
With the opening of the Pregnancy Resource Center’s Monroe branch, young women in east Snohomish County have one more place to turn with questions and worries about pregnancy.
"We want to be where our clients are. We wanted to meet the needs of clients in other areas," said Sue Pierce, spokeswoman for Pregnancy Resource Centers of Snohomish County.
Pierce said in the future the organization would like to open other centers around the county, starting in Lynnwood.
The Everett center serves about 100 girls and women a month at no charge and is run mostly on donations from individuals, churches and organizations, Pierce said. It also has two fund-raising events a year, a "Walk for Life" in May and a banquet in November.
"People believe in what we’re doing and choose to help," Pierce said.
She said the most frequently used service is pregnancy testing. The center also has a 24-hour crisis hotline, crisis intervention counseling, pregnancy education, childbirth education classes, maternity and baby clothes for those who need them, and "Sexual Integrity" abstinence education for clients and the community. The center also provides information about abortion procedures, risks and alternatives.
The center looks "to be able to give practical help and counsel to women who are looking for answers," Pierce said. "It’s a very unsettled time in their life, and this is a great place for people in unexpected pregnancies to come and learn about their options."
The two centers combined have a staff of nine and more than 50 volunteers, such as Monroe resident Susan McGee, who volunteers at both centers.
"The lord really has laid on my heart the young women who are pregnant and in situations where they just really need help," McGee said.
McGee said she has had her own experience in such things; her son’s girlfriend became pregnant and the girlfriend’s family took her to have an abortion without McGee knowing about it. That experience, along with her volunteering, has given her more compassion for young women in tough circumstances.
"You see a lot of young women. Many go ahead and decide to have children," McGee said. "But if nothing else, we get them started on a more hopeful, good life."
Everett resident Jacquelyn Dreyer, who has volunteered at the Pregnancy Resource Center for 20 years, works in the baby and maternity rooms. The center’s clients can earn credits for baby supplies by attending classes on topics such as prenatal care or childbirth.
Over the years, Dreyer has done everything from cleaning up donated baby clothes to waiting with expectant fathers while their partners get a pregnancy test. Dreyer, the center’s longest-serving volunteer, has learned to tolerate many kinds of people and their circumstances, and not judge them.
"I just want to help, and be nice and kind," she said. "It’s the center I’m representing, and God’s work, though I don’t always agree with people and their decisions."
The center will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year.
Pierce said the center’s mission is to help, but also to be realistic.
"’Real choices for real life’ is our motto," she said. "That’s what we’re trying to provide. We want to help women make their decisions not just for the moment, but what would be the best decision for them for the rest of their lives," she said.
Now 20, Daily is a single mother working as a shift manager at Dominos. She said every moment she spends with her twins, 10-month-old Caitlyn and Nevaeh, makes her realize she made the right choice.
"The little things can be hard, but there’s nothing that’s really, really hard," Daily said. "The most rewarding part is all of their firsts. Like the first time they talk, or look at you and recognize you. I’m very, very glad."
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.
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