00:00I got pregnant at 14 and now I'm pregnant again at 16. I'm due in three
00:06months. It stopped normalizing kids having kids. Why would you even let that
00:11happen twice? Becoming teen parents was definitely a shock and we wasn't prepared.
00:16I was terrified to tell my mom I was pregnant. She wasn't very happy. It's not
00:20the life I wanted for you. It kind of felt like a slap in the face. What did
00:24you feel when I told you that we were pregnant the second time? Come here, baby.
00:29Come here. This is Anthony. He's 20 months old. Something like that. He's
00:37almost two. He likes to run around. He's kind of crazy. I am Leland. I am
00:44Anthony's father. I'm Leah and I am Anthony's mom. And how old were each of
00:51you when you had Anthony? I just turned 16 when Anthony was born. I was 14 when
00:56Anthony was born. I got pregnant with him right after I turned 14. So, I mean, young.
01:04How does a normal day start for you guys now? I'll get up with Anthony and make him
01:09breakfast and then we're pretty much just playing the rest of the day and doing
01:12different learning things. Our life as teen parents has been kind of odd. I mean,
01:16we don't live together. Not yet anyways. We're working on that. But he works. I take
01:21care of Anthony for the most part. I do the everyday diapers, the food, the baths,
01:28bedtime, nap time. That's kind of my job. I've got to stay up really late in general
01:34just to get everything done before I go to bed. So, then getting up at the same
01:37time as Anthony is kind of hard. But I won't go to bed until 1 or 2 in the
01:41morning. So, it's like, well, here we go. You know, I'm super tired. But other than
01:45that, it's been okay.
01:46Did you always plan to have children at a young age or?
01:50I never planned on having kids like ever. I had different goals for my life.
01:55I was a competitive cheerleader. So, that was kind of the whole goal is just to go as
02:00far as I could with that. I've always wanted a little one to teach them everything I know.
02:06And I've always wanted to have that father and son connection.
02:12How did you feel when you first found out that you guys are pregnant for the first time?
02:16When I first found out, I was nervous because obviously at a young age, you can't
02:20really get a job unless it's side jobs, mowing yards, doing that type of stuff.
02:25That was just my main fear is the money situation.
02:30I was kind of shocked. I was definitely scared. I was mad for pretty much the entire pregnancy.
02:37People said I was kind of mean, but I was, I was pretty upset.
02:44So, I sleep up here. I made him a little room in the closet for his bed to make a
02:50little extra room in here. You want to show him your bed? Go get in your bed.
02:55Then I've got a bed set up for the new baby too. It's set up just in case he comes
03:00before I move out.
03:01We learned back in October that we were expecting our second baby. I'm due in three months.
03:08What have you guys bought so far for the new baby?
03:11I mean, we've got a few outfits. This is my favorite one, I think, so far. It's got the little
03:16bears on it.
03:17I kind of just sell random stuff that I have to come up with money to buy different things for
03:23the babies.
03:23Do you guys have major worries or concerns having a second kid right now?
03:28Not being able to get into the house before he's born is like, that's been bugging me a lot.
03:32He lives with his grandparents and then, obviously, I live here with my mom.
03:37So, we're working on getting our own place and then moving into that.
03:41She really does not want to have a second one without me being there with her.
03:46What is the hardest thing about being teen parents?
03:48It's definitely not being able to be around each other 24-7.
03:52When she's hungry, I can't just, okay, I'll make you this.
03:56Or when she's too tired and can't deal with Anthony at the moment, I can't help 24-7 of the
04:02day.
04:05There is definitely a lot of stepping up and growing up that you kind of don't want to do what
04:11you have to and you know you have to do it.
04:13For me, some of the biggest changes have been not going out as much, like, at the house a lot,
04:17which is weird for me because I've always been one to, like, go hang out with everybody.
04:20My friends were all pretty supportive the entire time, but we don't really talk anymore.
04:24We just, we've got different lives.
04:26They're all super busy.
04:28We started posting content on social media.
04:31I had a lot of spare time, but just to kind of get our story out there and show that
04:34it's possible to do all these things.
04:36It's possible to just make it through, honestly.
04:40It was his idea.
04:41He wanted to post content and stuff.
04:43I was like, you know what?
04:43Why not?
04:44We'll just post stuff about our everyday lives or different things that we do.
04:47What's the response?
04:49A lot of negativity.
04:51There's a lot of mean people out in this world.
04:53This one says, stop normalizing kids having kids.
04:56I don't know where I'm normalizing that at, but okay.
05:00And I think a lot of people who just have, like, a general idea of, like, well, teens can't be
05:05parents because they're young and they're not going to be able to grow up and do it.
05:08Another one about no shame and no embarrassment could never be me.
05:12Being young when you're having kids, it's shameful.
05:14It is embarrassing at times, but you just got to kind of learn to grow off of that, I feel
05:19like, and ultimately just make the best of your life.
05:22So how do you feel when people judge you for being teen parents?
05:25We really don't care what they got to say, just as long as if we're doing part of our job,
05:30doing what we need to do to provide for our little one and tend to be little ones.
05:34Sometimes it gets to me a little bit, but I mean, ultimately I know what's true and what's not.
05:39So I know that we do our best to take care of him.
05:42Another baby, question mark, question mark, question mark.
05:45Why would you even let that happen twice?
05:48I don't know, that's kind of mean.
05:50But I feel like they can't see inside of this situation what everything's like.
05:54I mean, I can see where it's coming from, but at the same time, I think we can do it.
05:58So, it's okay.
06:02How did your families react when they first found out about the pregnancy?
06:06When I first told my mom about being pregnant at 14, I was in her car.
06:11I got in her car and I just handed her a pregnancy test.
06:13And she was just kind of like, okay, we have to call your dad.
06:16She wasn't very happy about it.
06:19How did you feel when I told you that I was pregnant for the first time?
06:23Scared.
06:24I was scared for you, just because I knew it was going to be a huge change and everything kind
06:30of flashes and it's not the life I wanted for you.
06:32Just as my mom had started to accept it, I found out that I was pregnant again.
06:37The conversations have always been super tense.
06:39A lot about how things are going to be, how everything's going to go, everything that I've got to do,
06:44every change that I have to make for it.
06:46It gets to be a lot sometimes.
06:49What did you feel like when I told you that we were pregnant the second time?
06:55Anger.
06:57Obviously.
06:58Because I screamed and yelled and...
07:02Cried.
07:02Cried, yeah.
07:04I guess I felt like the first time that I was, I had your back.
07:09And it kind of felt like a slap in the face to do it again.
07:18There's definitely been a lot of support coming from my mom.
07:21She took time off of work when Anthony was born to kind of be there and help me get into
07:26the swing of being a mom, taking care of everything.
07:28But she's trying to also push, like, you're going to have to do this on your own at some point
07:32too, so...
07:36I don't want to see you guys struggle, which I kind of foresee is going to be part of it,
07:40being such a young couple and young parents.
07:42But we're always here for you to fall back on if you need it.
07:45I know, Leland, your parents are always there, your mom's always there for help.
07:48So, I just want to see you guys do well.
07:51Looking back, are there any regrets from having kids so young?
07:55Yeah, there's a lot of regrets around having them young, but at the same time, maybe it's for the best
08:02in our situation.
08:03Maybe it calmed us down a little bit, probably put us on better paths.
08:07We've took in full responsibility.
08:09There was a lot of, you're not going to be able to make it, you won't have enough money, but
08:13it's definitely doable, you just gotta try.
08:15What have you guys learned about parenting and what do you think makes it good?
08:20Everybody's going to be different in the way that they parent their kids.
08:22Everybody's going to have different opinions on things.
08:24Ultimately, I think a good parent is just someone who tries for their kids, at least.
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