Carmen Sauceda, a 17-year-old high school athlete from Dallas, once dreamed of attending college, but with a newborn baby girl, those dreams will have to take a backseat to motherhood.

The gifts she recently received at her baby shower have done little to calm her anxiety, because she doesn't think she's ready.

"I don't feel like an adult. But now I have to act like one for my child," Sauceda said.

The 17-year-old is not alone. For the first time in more than a dozen years, more American teenagers are putting off their own dreams of college and success to raise families.

After more than a decade of declines, the Centers for Disease Control reports that teen pregnancy is on the rise again.

According to the CDC's final numbers for 2006, just released this year, the teenage birth rate increased 3 percent, putting a stop to the 14-year decline from 1991-2005.

According to the report, teen birth rates were highest in the South and Southwest. Mississippi led the way, followed closely by New Mexico and Texas.

The only states that saw a decrease in teen birth rates were North Dakota, Rhode Island and New York. Some experts say that the reason for the rise is that today's teenagers are less informed than their parents were.