Teen Mom OG star Catelynn Baltierra (née Lowell) looked back on her and husband Tyler Baltierra’s tough decision to place daughter Carolyn “Carly” Elizabeth Davis for adoption more than a decade ago.
In a new interview published on World Adoption Day, November 9, the reality TV personality opened up about her days in high school and finding out that she was going to be a first-time mother before reaching many milestones in her life.
“I just remember the initial anxiety and being very scared,” Catelynn, 29, told E! News about her reaction. “At that time, I didn’t even have a cell phone. I didn’t even have my driver’s license yet. I didn’t have a car. My mom and Tyler’s dad were kind of bad in addiction during that period of time also.”
Catelynn and Tyler, 29, who first met in seventh grade, took up an opportunity to share their story with the world on the first season of 16 & Pregnant, during which she gave birth to Carly and opted for an open adoption with Carly’s adoptive parents, Brandon and Teresa Davis.
“When our episode first aired on MTV in 2009, it was the very first episode that really documented what adoption looks like,” Catelynn explained. “I really do think that it opened the eyes for lots of people to really see how real adoption works and the struggles that birth parents go through and adoptive parents go through,” adding, “It’s not a Lifetime movie. It’s authentic.”
The couple later appeared on the series Teen Mom until it wrapped in 2012. In March 2015, they returned for season 5, which had been renamed Teen Mom OG.
Despite all of the hardships that Catelynn and Tyler went through over the years, they grew stronger as a couple and got married on August 22, 2015, in addition to writing a book together suitably titled Conquering Chaos. The couple has since welcomed three more daughters: Novalee, 6, Vaeda, 2, and 2-month-old Rya.
Nowadays, the Baltierras still make an effort to stay a part of their eldest daughter’s life. “We text back and forth,” the Michigan resident shared. “We send pictures, I send pictures of my girls to [Brandon and Teresa] and they send pictures of Carly to us and updates on what they are doing and vice versa.”
The couple recently spent time with Carly after two years apart amid the coronavirus pandemic, a reunion that Catelynn and Tyler both very much enjoyed.
Catelynn said that it’s especially hard because she would love for all of her girls to have a strong bond, but she has accepted their past decision, noting that she felt it was in the best interest for Carly. “It’s part of the sacrifice of adoption,” she added. “You know, we sacrifice a lot for this child to have the life that she has.”