Angie-Lee Snodgrass, 19, says raising her daughter is overwhelming. (CBC)A recent rise in national teen pregnancy rates after decades of falling numbers has motivated one Saint John group to take action.

Four new videos, launched this week, aim to show teens what 19-year-old Angie-Lee Snodgrass already knows — there's no going back, even when the going gets tough.

Snodgrass, the mother of seven-month-old Madison, says she’s overwhelmed by life with a young child. With only a Grade 8 education, no help from her parents, and no father in the picture, Snodgrass admits this isn’t the ideal scenario, and adds it’s not one she planned for.

“I never used protection. And I never really thought it could happen,” she said.

For the two decades leading up to 2005, the teenage pregnancy rate had fallen dramatically. But an unexpected rise across the country has Saint John public health nurse, Penny Higdon, looking for ways to reverse those stats.

Penny Higdon, chair of the Teen Pregnancy Committee, says some reality television shows glamorize teenage motherhood. (CBC)Higdon chairs the Teen Pregnancy Committee that sponsored the Babies: No Returns campaign. The series of videos, filmed in Saint John using teenage actors, is now circulating on Facebook and YouTube.

Despite the available information — which has never been better, or better delivered — the caution isn’t taking hold as much as it should, said Higdon.

“It’s hard to raise a baby or find proper daycare in order to finish education, so that then limits future opportunities for employment, ending with limiting opportunities for their children as well,” she said.

Snodgrass, who’s been taken in by First Steps, a transitional house that offers room and board, childcare, and education says the logistics of raising a child on her own were overwhelming.

“It’s very hard to budget, pay rent, have a baby and go to school, and [manage] transportation. It’s just extremely hard,” she said.

Higdon said some reality television shows glamorize teenage motherhood. She hopes the videos will help provide a more realistic sense of what life with an infant is actually like.