Missed periods and feeling sick may mean pregnancy. But they also may mean a lot of other things (like stress). So the only way to find out whether or not you are pregnant is by taking a pregnancy test.
You can buy one over the counter and take it at home. You do not have to be a certain age to buy one, you do not need your parents with you when you buy one, and you do not need to buy an expensive one. Many dollar stores even sell pregnancy tests, and those tests are just as accurate as the more expensive ones if you've already missed your period.
Or you can go to the doctor and have them do a test for you. You can even have that done without your parents and sometimes even for free at many clinics like Family Planning or Planned Parenthood. You can look for a Planned Parenthood near you by visiting
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/If you're late, sexually active, and afraid you might be pregnant, you should test as soon as possible.
In the meantime, do not have unprotected sex. Even if you think you are pregnant, you don't know that you are. There is a chance that you are not. So if you're going to have sex, use protection.
If you are pregnant, you're right, at 17 there is pretty much no way you could raise a child. That means that your options would be abortion or having the baby then putting it up for adoption.
Abortions are generally done early on in a pregnancy. That means that most other people don't even have to know that you were ever pregnant. It means that you don't have to get a big belly, or deliver a baby, or miss a bunch of school. You can even get one without your parents knowledge or consent in some places. So that appeals to many women, and that is what I usually recommend for teens.
Putting the baby up for adoption is a lot more work. You have to go through the whole pregnancy and delivery. That means you have to go to doctor check-ups to make sure you and the baby are healthy (that means a lot of poking, and prodding, and looking at your v****a). You have to watch what you eat. You have to take prenatal vitamins. Your belly will get big. You'll have to deliver the baby. You'll have to deal with a lawyer and/or an adoption agency. You might miss a lot of school or fun times with your friends because you might be sick with morning sickness, or because you're recovering from the delivery, or because you have to rest (some women have to stay in bed for a lot of their pregnancy because of various complications - teens and women over 40 are more likely to have those complications). But this appeals to some people because they want to give the baby to a person or couple who want a baby and who may be unable to get pregnant on their own. You can even pick the couple that the baby goes to if you want, and you can even stay in the child's life if you and the adoptive parents both want that (some adoptive parents send the birth mother yearly email updates and pictures, others have the birth mother over for dinner every weekend, and pretty much anything in between - there's no right or wrong way to do it, it's all about what the birth mother and adoptive parents want). So even though it's a ton more work, it may be the right option for some people.
Like I said, I usually recommend abortion to teens, and that's what appeals to most teens anyway. But everyone is different. Only you know for sure which would be better for you. If you think adoption might be right you, you should stop taking any medication that you may be on until you talk to a doctor about whether or not it's safe to take during pregnancy. Whatever you decide, Planned Parenthood can help. You can also ask about counseling services no matter what you decide since abortion and giving a baby up for adoption can both be very emotionally difficult for some women.
If you're not pregnant, this pregnancy scare probably means that you need birth control, that you need more reliable birth control, or that you're not ready to be sexually active. You should never ever ever ever ever have sex without protection unless you are trying to have a child and are ready for a child or unless a doctor tells you there is absolutely no way you will ever get pregnant. You should ideally be using a hormonal method (like the pill) and a condom every single time. That will give you really good pregnancy and STD protection. Planned Parenthood can help with that too. If you already are on hormonal birth control, were taking it correctly, and were also using condoms as directed, but still got scared anyway, it may mean that you're not ready for sex just yet. That's common. And it's ok. Sex is fun, but it's also a huge responsibility. To truly be ready you need to know how to be safe, you need to be able to get to a doctor for things like paps, and you even have to be ok with the chance of pregnancy, even if it's a really really really small chance.
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