'Teen Mom' 's Catelynn Lowell Recalls 'Anxiety and Being Very Scared' When Expecting Her First Baby

Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra placed daughter Carly, now 12, for adoption while on MTV's 16 and Pregnant in 2009

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Published on November 9, 2021 01:56 PM

Catelynn Baltierra and Tyler — Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra. Photo: Catelynn Baltierra/ Instagram

Catelynn Lowell is looking back at her decision to place daughter Carly for adoption and reflecting on how the journey has impacted her family's life.

The Teen Mom OG star, 29, opened up in a new interview with E! News about her and husband Tyler Baltierra's journey with adoption and decision to document the process on MTV's 16 and Pregnant in 2009.

Speaking about what was going through her mind when she first found out she was pregnant with Carly, now 12, her junior year of high school, Lowell said, "I just remember the initial anxiety and being very scared."

"The scared is me thinking that I don't have anything. 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," she explained. "My mom and Tyler's dad were kind of bad in addiction during that period of time also."

Lowell — who also shares daughters Rya Rose, 2 months, Nova, 6, and Vaeda Luma, 2 with Baltierra — said she believes sharing her journey on television "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."

"It's not a Lifetime movie. It's authentic," she added.

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Lowell also expressed the importance of sharing her story with the public as "people really need to understand that adoptive parents go through grief and loss also."

"They're not able to have their own children, which is a huge loss within itself," she said of Carly's parents Brandon and Teresa. "Tyler and I are blessed and we do love them for how much they let us be involved, that they actually care to have visits and they love to get together with our kids and obviously we love to get together with their kids."

The reality star went on to give advice to other parents who may be considering adoption.

"Look at your life and figure out what is going to be the best possible thing for this child," she said. "Just really get educated on every option that there is out there and kind of figure out which one best fits your life and which one is going to be best for the child."

After nearly two years apart, Lowell and her family recently reunited with Carly, which will be documented on an upcoming episode of Teen Mom OG.

"We did end up having a visit with Carly and MTV did follow that. They didn't film Carly herself or anything like that but they always film us," Lowell told E! News last month.

"People will be able to witness what our reaction was from the first day to the last day, from leaving and even just like the start of the visit and things like that, which I think is definitely important."