Country Singer Sean Williams On the Day He Almost Lost His Baby Son: 'He Stopped Breathing'

Sean Williams and wife Katie welcomed twins, son Kolton and daughter Kennedy, in September

Photo: Gray Images Photography

Viral country music star Sean Williams admits he didn't get much sleep last night.

"I don't even know what that word 'sleep' means anymore," says Williams, 29, with a chuckle while chatting with PEOPLE mere weeks after becoming a daddy for the first time. "I lay my head down every night, but I know that at any time, they can wake up and either be hungry or need to be changed or just want to be held. I mean, it still doesn't even seem real."

Indeed, that new parent fog is not unusual, especially considering that the singer/songwriter and his wife Katie welcomed not one, but two babies in September.

"We prayed to God to have a baby, and I guess we prayed a little too hard because He gave us two," jokes Williams of the couple's preemie twins — son Kolton and daughter Kennedy — who were born at just 30 weeks gestation. "We had gone to the hospital in hopes to prolong pregnancy, not to have the babies. Since [Katie] had an emergency c-section, I was the only one able to bounce back and forth between her room and the NICU for a while. So yeah, the first couple days were rough."

However, those days would in fact get even rougher as the twins ended up spending more than 50 days in the hospital, some of which turned precarious very quickly.

"Kennedy had just gone through her car seat test and was prepped and ready for discharge the next day," recalls Williams. "But she ended up having an episode that night with her feedings. They both have reflux really bad, so whenever they would have an episode where it caused any kind of issues with their breathing, they ended up tacking on extra days for them to stay for monitoring."

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L: Caption . PHOTO: Gray Images Photography

R: Caption . PHOTO: Gray Images Photography

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Baby Kolton also had his share of scary episodes with his breathing, one of which had Williams wondering if he was about to lose his son.

"He stopped breathing," says Williams rather matter-of-factly. "It got to a point where we thought that he was actually going to die."

"I was in the room holding Kennedy and the way the chair was faced, it was towards the monitor," he remembers. "I couldn't see the other room. And so, all I could see for Kolton was the numbers on his monitor going down dramatically. It was happening so fast and there was nothing I could do. I was confined to this chair holding another baby who was also hooked up to her monitors. So, I couldn't get up. I couldn't just put her down."

Gray Images Photography

Thankfully, the serious situation rectified itself, and the two babies eventually went home in October. However, Kolton still has a somewhat serious surgery ahead of him.

"He ended up having Hirschsprung's disease," says Williams of the congenital disorder of the digestive system his son was diagnosed with. "He will have surgery for it in the next few months. He just has to be a little bigger."

Nevertheless, the family of five (including Williams' 13-year-old stepson Brenton) says they are looking forward to the holiday season with their little ones, all while getting more used to their new reality.

"I don't think my wife and I have had time to mentally process the fact that there are two extra children in this house," Williams says with a laugh. "But, it's hitting us a little bit more each day."

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And as Williams continues to pursue a country music career that was catapulted to new heights following a February appearance on The Bobby Bones Show via the strength of his single "Where You Left Me," he is also trying to figure out how he is going to manage it all.

"It's all about time management," stresses Williams, who recently released a single titled "If You Only Knew" featuring Cori. "I'm trying to get myself down to a rhythm. Throughout the mid-morning to afternoon, the babies are typically asleep, so that gives me a good four to five hours to work."

Through it all, Williams' growing legion of fans have not only been supportive of his career, but also of his young family.

"It's hard to find the right words to express our appreciation to everyone who follows us," he says. "Just having something like TikTok that not only allows you to put content out in front of millions of people, but to also share your life with has been truly a blessing."