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CHAPTERS
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
Chapter One
Breast Development:
Hormones Puffy Nipples,
Growing Breasts
There were times I would pray to God, ‘I will do anything you like, I will do everything my parents say, but I do NOT want boobs!’ It was awful starting to develop. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. And I just wanted to return back to the life I knew without all these problems.
Kelly, 13
I would rather talk to my older sister about my breast development than my parents. She doesn’t ask me 500 follow up questions.
Sara, 12
I can tell you, every night – even when I was eleven, and my girlfriends were kind of starting to get their period then, starting to develop something, I can remember – I was raised Catholic – I would pray: ‘Our Father’, ‘God bless mommy, dad, Mickey, Chrissie, Casey, Kansas – who was my brother’s dog – and please God, let me wake up tomorrow with some boobs.’ That was the prayer. I can tell you exactly what it was because I spent years saying it.
Lizzie, 18
I knew a lot more about growing breasts than other people. And I was talking with a friend, when a mother who was listening in asked ‘How do you know all this?’ “I guess because I grew up the baby in my family, so I was learning about breast development and breast cancer from everybody older than me.
Mary Jane, 14
Well, all my friends think they will never have breasts – and it's not funny – because a lot of girls feel this way.
Sara, 13
I wished we had the talk about breast development before it occurred not when the breasts first started to appear. We had the menstrual talk but somehow breasts were left out.
Elena, 12
At my aunt’s house, I pulled my mom aside to privately tell her that my boobs all of a sudden started hurting. She said, “Ohhhh, you’re growing breasts,” and then she turned around and told my aunt everything I had just said.
Alexandra, 11
Girls in my school must get changed in the main room for gym class. At first, some girls tried to sneak off and change in the bathroom but the teachers caught them and made them change with everyone else. Now we’re all used to it. We have no choice.
Susanna, 12
I started developing before everybody else. Between fifth and sixth grade I grew boobs and grew about six inches taller. It was ridiculous: I was so out of proportion.
Sasha, 18
When I was seven, I liked the whole idea of having boobs because everybody had them. Me and my friends would try on my mom’s bra and laugh about it. We didn’t really understand. I guess I thought that one day I’d just wake up and everything would be different – only later did I realize how awkward the growing up part would be.
Lena, 14
When I first got breasts, no one knew because I wore so many layers. A big T-shirt AND a sweatshirt were the perfect solution. I was against even owning a bra. I wouldn’t talk about it with my mom or anybody – and when the words came up I just pretended not to hear. My friends and I pretended we were disgusted by the whole idea of a bra, even though secretly we knew we needed one.
Emily, 15
Later, when I started high school, I was thinking that it’s a lot more normal to have breasts there and I wanted to fit in and have fun – so I should just embrace it. But even so, I am still uncomfortable with them.
Megan, 17
The first things that changed about my body when my breasts started to grow were my nipples. They got so puffy I had to wear a tight camisole under my clothes to flatten them down.
Lena, 14
When my breasts began growing, they started showing through my shirts. I went through great lengths to hide them. I’d even use tape.
Katie, 16
