We Were Having a Baby. Our Religion Forced Us Apart.

We were teenagers in love, expecting our first child. Instead of being allowed to prepare for parenthood together, our religion separated us for 11 months. This is the story we never got to tell. We both grew up as Jehovah's Witnesses. When Karen became pregnant at 17, we were brought before religious elders, questioned about deeply personal details of our relationship, and subjected to disciplinary decisions that would change our lives forever. At a time when we needed each other most, we were kept apart. Those 11 months took away experiences we can never get back. Andrew missed watching Karen's pregnancy unfold, and we lost the chance to prepare for parenthood together. Then, after almost a year apart, we were expected to somehow begin our marriage and family life together. For years, we carried the consequences of those decisions. In this documentary, we're sharing our story together—from falling in love as teenagers and discovering we were expecting a baby, to the religious judicial meetings, the letters we wrote while separated, the birth of our daughter, and the life we've built since. This isn't just a story about leaving Jehovah's Witnesses. It's about young love, religious control, lost time, and a family that deserved a different beginning. And now, after all these years, we're finally getting the chance to write our own next chapter. Thank you for listening to our story. ❤️ Andrew & Karen --- *Join the conversation:* Have you ever had someone else make decisions about your relationship or your future? We'd love to hear your story in the comments. Subscribe to follow our journey as we reclaim the experiences we missed and create new memories together. #ExJW #lovestory #storytime #couple 00:00 The Story They Never Let Us Tell 01:00 How We Fell in Love as Teenagers 11:00 Finding Ways to Be Together 14:00 The Pregnancy That Changed Everything 20:00 Our Last Moments Before Everything Changed 24:00 Telling Our Families 29:00 Facing the Jehovah's Witness Elders 41:00 Karen's Judicial Committee 45:00 The Decision to Separate Us 54:00 Missing the Pregnancy 59:30 The Letters We Wrote 70:00 A Ring and a Promise 79:00 Fighting to Be Reinstated 85:00 The Final Months of Pregnancy 90:00 Our Daughter Is Born 95:00 Trying to Become a Family 100:00 The Years We Can Never Get Back 104:00 The Wedding We Never Really Had 105:00 Rewriting Our Love Story