Martinez has now been dating live-in boyfriend Grayston Leonard for seven months, but it was only three months into their relationship that the 23-year-old discovered she was expecting. It wasn’t planned and at first the news came as an utter shock to the couple. “I was in disbelief and thought, ‘Is this really happening?’” Martinez remembered. “I immediately called Grayston and then went across the street to the Dollar Tree and bought two more pregnancy tests. They, of course, were both positive.”

At first, Leonard was unsure about whether he was ready to be a father, but for Martinez it was “legitimately a dream come true.” As she explained, “It’s the one thing that I’ve known with certainty for so long. I’ve gone back and forth on the idea of marriage and relationships, but I’ve always felt sure that I want to be a mom.”

She remembers the moment their new normal officially set in, which (ironically) happened to be Father’s Day. “I was crying (happy tears) and said, ‘You’re going to be a dad!’ We hugged, and it was the first time we really got to be overjoyed. We were finally able to celebrate and soak up all of that emotion,” the expectant mom said.

Still, they chose to keep the pregnancy to themselves. As Martinez explained, “I wanted time to process it between Gray and I and our family without all of the exterior noise chiming in.”

And although Martinez could have kept the unplanned aspect of her pregnancy private, it was never something that crossed her mind: “I wanted to share this experience with other women who have been in a similar situation or might be in the future, so they know they’re not alone.”