Kailyn Lowry is still processing the traumatic experience of having her premature twins in the neonatal intensive care unit.
One week after confirming she welcomed her two babies with boyfriend Elijah Scott, the 31-year-old reality star got candid about her birth experience on the Barely Famous podcast Friday — revealing she delivered five weeks early. Scary!
Related: Kailyn Declares She’s Getting On Ozempic After Birth Of Twins!
As a result, her newborns needed to spend weeks in the NICU — an experience that was terrifying for the momma of seven. Kailyn said:
“The NICU is an emotional roller-coaster that I don’t think anyone truly goes into unless you’re high-risk [or] you experienced preterm labor before or you know there could be complications at birth. [With my older kids], the word NICU had never even crossed my mind. So, it is a journey no one can prepare you for.”
After Kailyn gave birth, she noted, the doctor brought her little ones to the NICU “right away.” She didn’t even get a chance to hold her babies for the first time until over 24 hours after they were born! Thankfully she did later, as she showed in the first pic she’s shared of her twins!
But before this beautiful moment, it was scary! Kailyn recalled:
“It was really scary because … we had experienced the NICU for a few days [with Rio] and he was big. He was 9 pounds, so that was different for us and got to go home shortly after. But for the twins, we were five weeks early and there were two of them. I didn’t get to hold them until the next day or 48 hours [later].”
Heartbreaking. Understandably, Kailyn went through a whirlwind of emotions as she watched her babies through the NICU incubators for weeks. One of the biggest challenges was the constant worrying if what was happening to her twins “was normal”:
“We went through the journey for weeks and we learned so much about the families that are there, and some of them are there for months and months. What was frustrating for me was when I finally talked to the doctor, he kept saying, ‘This can be normal.’ But never once was like, ‘We see this a lot.’ So, whether it was normal or not … there’s a huge difference between being normal and being common but completely abnormal. I felt there was no one saying, ‘We see this a lot.’ … I wanted to know if what I was seeing was normal.”
According to Kailyn, her daughter — whom she referred to as Baby B — was having a lot of trouble with her feedings as she often didn’t “show signs of hunger” and would even “sleep through feedings.” Oh no! The MTV personality explained:
“I had never seen a baby in my life not wake up to eat or show signs of hunger. She never had any feeding cues and when I tried to feed her, she wouldn’t take a bottle. And that was really difficult because I’m looking at him, and [while] he’s in the NICU for some of the same reasons, but also he’s taking a bottle and he’s having no issue with that. I cried a lot. I probably cried more with the NICU journey than the C-section stuff.”
The situation became even more difficult when Kailyn and Elijah were able to bring home their baby boy — whom she referred to as Baby A — but had to leave their daughter in the NICU. As Kailyn burst into tears while remembering the moment, Elijah continued:
“We had to travel back and forth, at least once a day, one of us.”
Kailyn said it was an “emotional” time since they were concerned for and away from their baby girl, all while having to carry on with their everyday lives at home:
“When we were home, we still couldn’t process it because there was so much going on here. Lincoln still had his basketball games and practices. Isaac still had his after-school stuff. Lux still had what he was doing. There was so much going on … and I still don’t think I’ve processed it [now].”
Oof. While at the hospital, Kailyn did her best to stay positive and make the unit “feel homey” for her daughter:
“I printed out pictures for the NICU wall because I didn’t know how long we’d be there and I wanted it to make sure that it felt homey. I just didn’t want her to be alone.”
However, that’s not to say the Teen Mom alum didn’t have her bad days in the NICU. She recalled sobbing while visiting her daughter one day. Of course, no one can blame Kailyn for needing a moment to break down. It can’t be easy to watch your baby in such a vulnerable state. Not to mention that Kailyn was away from her other newborn and in the middle of postpartum. So it’s a lot. As she was crying, though, Kailyn remembered that a doctor approached her and asked if she needed psychological help — instead of offering comfort or simply leaving her alone:
“I said I have my own therapist, but I’m away from my infant, and my infant is away from her twin. And I feel like that in and of itself was enough for me to cry. And I know he didn’t mean anything by it; he was covering all his legal bases, but it also felt like a punch in the gut because I felt like it was a normal reaction for me to cry.”
Kailyn understands he most likely wanted to make sure she had someone to talk to during this hard time, but she didn’t appreciate “how” he asked her the question — as if it were wrong for her to be in tears:
“But in the same breath, I get it because I’ve gone through postpartum depression, and so I understand, too, covering all the bases to make sure if someone does need resources… I don’t think it was the way he said it but how he said it.”
Jeez…
Thankfully, things soon took a turn in a positive direction. Kailyn and Elijah’s daughter was discharged and brought home. Naturally, it took some time for the twins to adjust and bond since they were away from each other for a while. It was even an adjustment for Kailyn when it came to bonding with her daughter at home:
“I think that there’s a big difference between the twins in terms of, because she was in the NICU by herself for so long, for so many weeks, and he was home. She’s more OK by herself … whereas we were home with him and someone was always with him, holding him and all of that. Now that she’s home, I feel like my bonding experience [with her] has been so much better. They are [both] good babies.”
We’re so glad Kailyn’s babies are OK and home following such a tough experiences! Reactions? Let us know in the comments.
[Image via MTV’s Teen Mom/YouTube, Kailyn Lowry/Instagram]
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