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I got pregnant at 14 and now I'm pregnant again at 16
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I'm due in three months. Stop normalizing kids having kids. Why would you even let that happen twice
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Becoming teen parents was definitely a shock and we wasn't prepared. I was terrified to tell my mom I was pregnant
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She wasn't very happy. That's not the life I wanted for you. It kind of felt like a slap in the face
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What did you feel when I told you that we were pregnant the second time? Come here, baby
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Come here. This is Anthony. He's 20 months old. Something like that
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He's almost two. He likes to run around. He's kind of crazy
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I am Leland. I am Anthony's father. I'm Leah, and I am Anthony's mom
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And how old were each of you when you had Anthony? I just turned 16 when Anthony was born
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I was 14 when Anthony was born. I got pregnant with him right after I turned 14
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So, I mean, young. How does a normal day start for you guys now
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I'll get up with Anthony, make him breakfast, and then we're pretty much just playing the rest of the day
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and doing different learning things. Our life as team parents has been kind of odd
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I mean, we don't live together. Not yet, anyways. We're working on that, but he works
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I take care of Anthony for the most part. I do the everyday diapers, the food, the baths, bedtime, nap time
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That's kind of my job. I've got to stay up really late in general just to get everything done before I go to bed
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So then getting up at the same time as Anthony is kind of hard. But I won't go to bed until one or two in the morning
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So it's like, well, here we go. You know, I'm super tired. But other than that, it's been okay
1:46
Did you always plan to have children at a young age? I never planned on having kids, like, ever
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I had different goals for my life. I was a competitive cheerleader, so that was kind of the whole goal
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was just to go as far as I could with that. I always wanted a little one to teach them everything I know and I always wanted to have that father and son connection How did you feel when you first found out that you guys were pregnant for the first time When I first found out I was nervous because obviously at a young age you can really get a job unless it side jobs
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Mowing yards, doing that type of stuff. That was just my main fear is the money situation
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I was kind of shocked. I was definitely scared. I was mad for pretty much the entire pregnancy
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People said I was kind of mean, but I was pretty upset
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So I sleep up here. I made him a little room in the closet for his bed to make a little extra room in here
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You want to show him your bed? Go get in your bed. Then I've got a bed set up for the new baby, too
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It's set up just in case he comes before I move out. We learned back in October that we were expecting our second baby
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I'm due in three months. What have you guys bought so far for the new baby
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We've got a few outfits. This is my favorite one I think so far
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It's got the little bears on it. Kind of just sell random stuff that I have to come up with money
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to buy different things for the babies. Do you guys have major worries or concerns having a second kid right now
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Not being able to get into the house before he's born is like... That's our bit
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That's been bugging me a lot. He lives with his grandparents, and then obviously I live here with my mom
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So we're working on getting our own place and then moving into that. She really does not want to have a second one without me being there with her
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What is the hardest thing about being teen parents? It's definitely not being able to be around each other 24-7
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When she's hungry, I can't just, okay, I'll make you this. or when she's too tired and can't deal with Anthony at the moment
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I can't help 24-7 of the day. There is definitely a lot of stepping up and growing up
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that you kind of don't want to do what you have to and you know you have to do it. For me, some of the biggest changes have been not going out as much
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like at the house a lot which is weird for me because I always been one to go hang out with everybody My friends were all pretty supportive the entire time but we don really talk anymore We just we got different lives They all super busy
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We started posting content on social media. I had a lot of spare time
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but just to kind of get our story out there and show that it's possible to do all these things
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It's possible to just make it through, honestly. It was his idea. He wanted to post content and stuff. I was like, you know what? Why not
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We'll just post stuff about our everyday lives or different things that we do. What's the response
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A lot of negativity. There's a lot of mean people out in this world
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This one says, stop normalizing kids having kids. I don't know where I'm normalizing that at, but okay
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And I think a lot of people who just have like a general idea of like
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well, teens can't be parents because they're young and they're not going to be able to grow up and do it
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Another one about no shame and no embarrassment could never be me. Being young when you're having kids, it's shameful
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It is embarrassing at times, but you just got to kind of learn to grow off of that, I feel like
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and ultimately just make the best of your life. So how do you feel when people judge you for being teen parents
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We really don't care what they got to say, just as long as if we're doing part of our job
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doing what we need to do to provide for our little one and to be little ones
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Sometimes it gets to me a little bit, but I mean, ultimately, I know what's true and what's not
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So I know that we do our best to take care of him. Another baby, question mark, question mark, question mark
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Why would you even let that happen twice? I don't know, that's kind of mean. But I feel like they can't see the inside of the situation, what everything's like
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I mean, I can see where it's coming from. But at the same time, I think we can do it
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So, it's okay. How did your families react when they first found out about the pregnancy
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When I first told my mom about being pregnant at 14, I was in her car
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I got in her car and I just handed her a pregnancy test and she was just kind of like, okay
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We have to call your dad. She wasn't very happy about it How did you feel when I told you that I was pregnant for the first time
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I was scared. I was scared for you. Um, just because I knew it was gonna be a huge change and
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Everything kind of flashes and it not the life I wanted for you Just as my mom had started to accept it I found out that I was pregnant again The conversations have always been super tense
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A lot about how things are going to be, how everything's going to go
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everything that I've got to do, every change that I have to make for it. It gets to be a lot sometimes
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What did you feel like when I told you that we were pregnant the second time
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Anger. obviously because I screamed and yelled and cried cried yeah I I guess I felt like the first time
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that I was I had your back and it kind of felt like a slap in the face to do it again
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there's definitely been a lot of support coming from my mom she took time off of work when Anthony
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was born to kind of be there and help me get into the swing of being a mom, taking care of everything
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But she's trying to also push, like, you're going to have to do this on your own at some point, too
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I don't want to see you guys struggle, which I kind of foresee is going to be part of it
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being such a young couple and young parents. But we're always here for you to fall back on if you need it
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I know, Leland, your parents are always there. Your mom's always there for help
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So I just want to see you guys do well. Looking back, are there any regrets from having kids so young
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Yeah, there's a lot of regrets around having them young, but at the same time, maybe it's for the best in our situation
8:03
Maybe it calmed us down a little bit, probably put us on better paths
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We've taken full responsibility. There was a lot of, you're not going to be able to make it
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you won't have enough money, but it's definitely doable, you just got to try
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What have you guys learned about parenting, and what do you think makes a good parent
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Everybody's going to be different in the way that they parent their kids. Everybody's going to have different opinions on things
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Ultimately, I think a good parent is just someone who tries for their kids at least
