Coffee Convos with Kail Lowry and Lindsie Chrisley - 35: Sixteen and Pregnant's Lindsey Nicholson, NICU Babies, Adoption and Kail's Stomach Bug!

Episode Date: August 2, 2018

Today, the ladies are joined by special guest, Lindsey Nicholson from Season 4 of Sixteen and Pregnant. They talk about the girls that were on her season, and where they're now. Lindsey updates us all on life, and shares details on her NICU twins. She also tells us what it's like to leave your babies at the hospital whilst going home completely empty. They talk about the very unfortunate staph infection & how the chance of survival is so low. Lindsey's husband felt defeated when the doctors didn't have the answers. They discuss financial struggles & her husband being forced to go back to work during this horrible time.  They discuss adoption & more! Check out @Paisleyannboutique_  to keep up with her story & shop her new store! 

Hey guys, welcome to Coffee Combo's, we have a special guest today. First off, I'm going to need Kale to pick her energy up about from a 5 to a 10. Kale has had the shits this morning. All night. I got a text at 1.45 a.m. when I was sleeping that said, I'm up and I'm sick. And I thought it was a joke. I really thought it was a joke. I thought you guys were drunk in the hotel room.

I didn't even drink last night. I don't know what I thought. I thought maybe you all got room service, it got wild, and you might have got maybe like a nervous shit or something. No, I had some truffle fries with you guys. You guys. And then I went upstairs to my room and I just got really, really sick and I did throw up one time and the maid, Kristen, went down to the lobby and had to have room service,

not room service. And then the lady come clean up my room, housekeeping, come clean up my room because I threw up in the sink and the drain was down. Oh no. So then I was like, oh shit, I can't get it to go down. I'm so glad that I went to bed because if I would have seen all of this, first off, I wouldn't be here today. Secondly, I'm sitting next to you so if you are contagious and I take home the shits,

I'm going to be pissed. Listen. What if I get the shits on the airplane? No, seriously, I hope you sit in the aisle. I'm really sorry. You know what? We were in the car for 12 hours trying to get here and I just feel like this was never my intention.

So if anyone goes home with the shits today, I really apologize. And I feel for all of us jointly. So anyhow, we have a special guest. Our guest is Lindsay Nicholson. If you remember, she had a 16 and pregnant episode, I think season, Lindsay, what season were you on? I think it was four. Four.

Okay. So you were with like Mackenzie and Katie. Katie. Yes. Brianna. Who's that? Brianna from Teen Mom 2 and also Javi's ex-girlfriend, anyhow, so y'all were all on the same season. Same season.

So I have been stalking Lindsay on Instagram for a long time now. I just think that she... She'll stalk you every day, it tells me. Because I feel like I related to your story and I loved your story and you know, I just, I thought your Instagram was so cute and your family is so cute and... Thank you. You know, I didn't ever get to meet you prior to this, so I was just glad to, you know, that we could get you on the podcast.

We've just got social media friends. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, No... Back up Lindsay told me that she met you or met like y'all's cast at Overunion... At the reunion, right. But you don't remember meeting any of them. I remember meeting Mackenzie. Mackenzie, huh? And I had, I think I already might have known Brianna in Brittany at that time, yeah, but

I didn't I don't remember, we might have met but I don't remember like ever really talking. Yeah. So I'm glad that we got to do this and actually be able to talk. Yes. So... Yes, she, too. So we give us an update. So you have, you got married, went three years ago, right?

Yes. three year anniversary. So exciting. We, gosh, so much has happened. So we got married. I moved from Reno to Texas. What else did we do? You guys had twins. Oh yeah, we had twins. He adopted Anaya. I mean, my whole life has like completely transformed since I lived in Reno. I just love that. And I saw on your Instagram that I saw all of it on your Instagram. So I was like, she is a success story and you're a realtor. Yes. So do you love doing that? I do. You do? Yes. And tell us about the twins. So when were they born? How old are they? What are their names? Tell us everything for the listeners. Yeah, the listeners I don't know.

So I got pregnant with my husband and we found out that we were pregnant with twins, completely unexpected. We definitely were only trying for one. We were given twins and everything was great. And then at 16 weeks, I found out that my cervix was shortening. And they weren't super concerned. But then here comes 20 weeks and I had nothing left. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I started dilating. I got to be like four centimeters dilated. Jackson's water bag started like falling out. So they put me in the hospital and I stayed there for a couple months. And they, I mean, there was nothing they could do since it was twins. You can't really prevent labor. Right. You just have to... So did they

have you on bed rest in the hospital? Yeah. So what is that like? You're literally sitting in bed all day? Yes. And I had to be monitored all the time. So they would come in and check the baby's heart beats all day. I just had to really just sit in a hospital bed and eat. That was my job, was to gain weight. And then where was Anaya while you had to do that? So she was in school. Okay. So I mean, she would go to school during the day. My husband would go to work. And then they would, after work, he would pick her up and they would come see me. And then they would go home and go to bed. And then dinner was just at the hospital with mom. Oh, wow. Yeah. So at what, when were the twins born? So you made it past 20 weeks? Yes. So I made it well past 20 weeks.

And then, I mean, I got to be like five centimeters dilated for a while. And then all of a sudden labor just, because it would always start and then stop. And then at 29 weeks, it just completely started and there was nothing they could do. Nothing they could do. So then they brought me down to labor and delivery because I was upstairs in like the postpartum section. And then labor just completely just took off and then at nine centimeters dilated, it stopped again. But at that point, I was too dilated and the risk for infection was too high. So I had to do something. So then they started me on Potosin and they had to give me the maximum out because my labor would not start again. And I didn't want to have a C-section because that was going to be too traumatic for Paisley

since she didn't really weigh anything. And so I was like, okay, they started it. And then I went into labor and that was 29 weeks and four days. Oh, wow. Yeah. So guys, have you heard about this company making flats from recycled plastic water bottles? Okay. Well, if you haven't, they're super affordable, comfortable and stylish. I'm talking about Rothes. Rothes is an everyday flat for life on the go. It's stylish, classic, comfortable, and comes in three fashionable styles, which is the flat, the point and the loafer. My personal favorite is the camo loafers. I know I've mentioned them before. Lindsay also has a pair of loafers. Yeah. So guess what? I'm finally ditching all of my uncomfortable shoes

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Right now, Rothes has an amazing deal for our listeners when you use the code coffee to get free shipping and no minimum. Free shipping and free returns and exchanges on your Rothes shoe and trust me, you won't want to return them. Go to rothes.com and enter coffee to get your cute shoes and free shipping. It's a no brainer shoes that are comfortable, stylish, and sustainable and free shipping. Go get yourself a pair today. Rothes.com promo code coffee. Get this deal while it lasts. Now let's get back to the show. So tell us what it was like after you, you know, fast forward, you birthed the twins and they were NICU babies, obviously. Yes. So explain the journey for NICU parents who are listening, what it's like to have babies in

the NICU. Okay. So I'll start with from the moment you have a NICU baby, especially if they're like so preterm to where, I mean, they're ready. All the NICU teams are in the delivery room waiting for you. So I couldn't even deliver in a normal hospital room. They had to take me to the OR because your chance of needing a C-section with twins is high, especially if baby B doesn't come out right away or whatever complications can happen. So they had to prep me for a C-section, even though I knew I was going to do it naturally. And then there was two NICU teams in their setup with, you know, one for each baby. So I had Jackson, he came out crying, everything was good, but then they, I couldn't hold him. And then they took him right to the bed,

put the ventilator into so that he could breathe on his own. And then he was whisked off, like just a couple of minutes later. And then I hate talking about Paisley's story. I'm going to start crying. Okay. So then I had Paisley and she came out and she wasn't crying. Okay. I'm just going to say I've never talked about her story out loud before. You're in a safe place. Yeah, exactly. We're all going to be crying with you. So she came out and she wasn't crying at all. And obviously, you know, that that means the first sign, like when the baby comes out, you think the worst, the baby is supposed to come out. And in movies, you know, you see the baby comes out, the baby's crying, kicking and screaming and it's normal.

Yeah. And so they took her and they put the ventilator in her and they couldn't get it in. She was so feisty, like she didn't want them touching her. And so that was even more scary because she needed to breathe, but she didn't want them to touch her. And so they put it in. And then I started bleeding too much. And so I couldn't even move like, and I kept trying to like turn around and look at her. But my doctor was like, don't move, like you're bleeding too much. I thought I was going to need a blood transfusion. Yeah. And so anyway, they took her to the NICU and then I went and, you know, the whole recovery deal that you have to do. And they wouldn't let me go see her until I could start walking. And then they had to prep both twins and get like their

pick lines put in. And there's so much that goes on to NICU babies, like they don't just go down and sleep. Get monitored. It's like a whole, a whole situation. Yes. And so you said that they were separated into two different rooms. Was there a reason for that? Did they, or did they ever put twins together or no? They do, but them being so premature and since I was dilated for so long, there was already a risk of infection and they didn't know what baby, like what the babies would have. They didn't want to do that until they knew that they were okay. Right. And plus there was too many wires and crucial wires too, like things that were feeding them. Like they couldn't just take milk, you know, right when they came out. And

there was a lot that went into it. And so I went down into the NICU and I mean, I thought that I could hold them. And I went down and I looked at them and they were like so tiny, like two pounds. And like something you haven't seen before? Yeah, like smaller than a baby doll. And Jackson, I mean, at first I thought he was going to be the one that had issues because he was super, super like he seemed sick. Like he seemed like he was really sick right when he was born. And Paisley was the one that seemed fine. And that was shocking to everyone because normally it's the boys in the NICU that they call it Wimpy white boy syndrome is what the nurses call it. And everything was good for a few days. I mean, it was the hardest thing I ever went through.

Like I had to leave both my babies at the hospital. And so at what point did you get to go home? Did you get to go home after they got the bleeding under control? Yeah. So I went home a few days later. All my stuff was good. And then I pretty much just lived at the hospital with them. And I noticed on like day three, days three or four Paisley, because when she was first born, she may have been really, really small, but she had such a strong grip, like she would just hold onto my finger so tight. And it was days three or four where I noticed her grip was like so weak, like you could barely feel her holding you. And I like right away my parental instincts were just like something's wrong. And so I told the doctors like, you know, is she okay? Like,

I noticed something's different. She was crying all the time. And it was the cutest cry because her lungs weren't really developed yet. And it was just like this cute little like a mouse. Yes, I'm gonna take a little mouse crying. It was so sad. Okay, so it's time to update you guys on the progress that I'm having with Beachbody. You guys know that I've been doing the I've been trying the P 90 X since I did insanity before. And I've really enjoyed seeing my own progress. I know my stomach is getting a little bit flatter. I'm starting to see a little bit of definition in my arms, which is a huge problem area for me. Yeah, and I've decided to try insanity because Kale said that she loves that program.

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So they thought it was just her adjusting to the outside life because her white blood cell count was high and everything. But they thought that that was I guess that happens to babies. Sure. And when they're so premature. And then day five rolled around and I just said something is not right. Like, I could just tell. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And so they looked into it more. And sure enough, they found out that she had staph infection. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so they called me. It was like four in the morning. I got a phone call and the doctor said it was at Mercer or like yeah, yeah, it was daffylophical. Well, and then we found out that she has staphylophical meningitis. So it turned into meningitis. And that's something that they get from the hospital, like

being born in the hospital or that was something from like how does how does a baby get that? So what I was told is you carry everyone carries staph infection staff on their skin. Okay. And you know how I was saying they had all these needles and everything in them. When they took out her, I think that was her pick line or or something like that. Sorry. It was in her belly button. And when they took that out, something got in through her belly button. Got it. And so I went at 4am. We loaded up, just rushed to the hospital and I had to sign, you know, consent for them to check her spine. It's like a spinal tap. Yes. Her spinal fluid. They had to test it.

So we did all that. And at this point, they were like, let's just let her rest, you know, don't really touch her. Just go home and let her be. So then we got another phone call later that day. And they were like, yes, her spinal fluid was cloudy, which means that there are signs of infection. And I was like, like your worst nightmare. Right. And a little baby that tiny, like, you don't think that they can handle that. But all the doctors were super upbeat. And, you know, no one was really worried. They said that, you know, they see this often and they just get treated and they're fine. So, I mean, of course, I was still scared because there's always that possibility of what if. So they started her on all her antibiotics. And they had told me

within about three days, she should be good. And I was like, okay, so just get through these three days and we're okay. Well, day two, Jackson wasn't acting right anymore. And they checked his blood and he had it too. And I was so angry at this point, like, what is going on? Right. You feel like you've been defeated at this point. Yes. Yes. And it's like, okay, now I have two babies with this life threatening infection, running through their bloodstream. And I was just like, and you knew there was just nothing at this point that you could do. Yeah. And you feel so helpless. Like when your baby is that sick, like all you want to do is hold your baby and you can't hold them. You can only touch them like a few times a day. You can't just go in and like open

it up and be with them. Like you have to go there during their set times that they changed their diapers, which was every three hours. And so was that because they were already going to be in there? So they do that because it's crazy, but you burn a baby that small burns thousands of calories, just getting its diaper changed. Okay. And so being that small, you don't want to burn the baby's calories because they need all the calories they can get being two and three pounds. And so I would go and I just wanted to hold them and I couldn't do anything. And you're just looking at your babies like, and Paisie was just at this point crying and moaning and just in so much pain, but you can't, you just look at her through an incubator. It was the hardest thing I ever went

through. And for parents, you know, like when you go to have a baby in a hospital, it's supposed to be like this joyous time. Yeah, like I didn't get maternity pictures. I didn't get, I didn't get, you know, to be with my husband and like experience that, you know, the bond and everything that you should when you're pregnant. Everything was horrific. Like, well, and to like when you have a baby that's in the NICU, they don't get that skin on skin, you know, like when they're first born, the bonding, the breastfeeding becomes harder. Yeah, I couldn't breastfeed. I had to pump. And so, I mean, thankfully Jackson, they started him on the antibiotics. And within a day, he was fine. Like, yeah, he was completely fine. You wouldn't even know that he was sick.

And so I was happy to see my son better. But then I, you know, look right across the way and there's my daughter and she's like lifeless. And I started doing research on babies with staff. And it said after day six, your chance of living is just a couple percent. Like, right. And the doctors didn't tell you that you found that out on your own. I found that part out on my own because they didn't want to scare me, you know. Okay, you guys. So let's take a break to talk to you about one of our favorite things. And that's scent bird with scent bird, a luxury fragrance subscription service. Every month you can choose a new fragrance from over 450 designer brands. I can tell you firsthand the sleek travel sprays last more than 30 days. And I love it. It's perfect for travel on

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being able to try out new scents and have not had to worry about wasting big, huge, full bottles that sit around forever. And we all know about that. That's why I always use sent bird.com. Visit sent bird.com slash coffee and use our code coffee for 50% off. That's only 750 for your first month and free shipping. That's S C E N T bird.com slash coffee and use our code coffee for 50% off your first month. Data perfume before you have to commit to it forever. Okay, now let's get back to the show. You've got two babies in the NICU that have staff infection. They don't, I mean, I could imagine they're not going to try to alert you that your baby could already has a chance of not living, but now really a chance of not living. So they brought on the infectious disease specialist

team, then they brought on a surgeon, and then they brought on hematology. And so it was all these people. And you know, in the NICU, if there's people always coming to see your baby, it's not good. Like you want to be left alone when you're in the NICU because that means your baby is getting better, right? And there was always people in there looking at her. And day six rolled around and we talked to the infectious disease specialists. And we were like, what do we do? Like, and she was like, it's okay. Like I have this other antibiotic, it's going to treat her. I was happy. So they started it. Nothing. And by day seven, she was even worse. And I was like, what is going, like, why is she going through this? And it got so bad. Like, I mean, she was so pale and her stomach was

like, I mean, she looked like a baby or like she was huge. Yeah, her stomach was massive. And she couldn't eat, they would feed her and she would just spit it all up with the feeding tube. And she just, and she was literally just lifeless, just fighting for her life. And so they gave her this one antibiotic and they were like, this is it. Like there's no other antibiotic that's going to work. Like at this point, it's, this is like the earliest effort. Yeah, we're going to try to save her. And nothing was working. And my husband was like, he went to the doctor and he said, is she going to be okay? And he just looked at Paisley and he put his head down. And I knew when he did that, like, they were always so upbeat and positive.

And he wasn't that day. And he was like, I don't know. And I remember I just walked away. I was like scary parent to hear from a doctor to say, because normally doctors are, you know, their medicine and they don't take things as serious as we would, as we would, because we're the parent, you know, and doctors think, you know, we can fix it. Yeah, you know, but to hear a doctor say they don't know that would have had to have been the scariest thing in their life. Yeah. And so hematology, which is the blood doctors came on and they said, okay, if an infection is going on this long, it's living somewhere in a major organ normally. Okay. So it's hiding out somewhere else in her body. So they took her to get a CT scan and an MRI. And they were determined to find where

it was living. Yes. And so they looked at her heart, which is where it normally goes. They looked at her liver, they looked at her kidneys. And when they got the results back, they found a little something in her heart. Okay. And okay, they found something, they found a blood clot in her main portal valve. And then they found one in her pulmonary valve. Okay. Which that's two places now the infection could be living. So then they started her on medicine to cure the blood clots to try to get rid of them. Okay. And one of them was completely blocking the flow to her liver. So it couldn't, it couldn't filter. Yes, the antibiotics couldn't even filter properly, nor could her liver. Got it. And so everything that could have went wrong, went wrong with her.

And they ended up thinking that she had something called biliary artesia, which is a really, really bad liver disease. Which affects the bilirubin, right? Yes. And so her bilirubin was really high. It wouldn't come down. Everything was just getting worse at this point. Her bilirubin, her GGT, everything, all of her liver levels were just escalating. And so they said, we think we need to send her to Houston. And thankfully they started that one antibiotic. And on day nine, she had tested her first negative blood result. For the minute. Yeah, the staff. The staff was finally gone. Okay. And so I was so happy. Like I thought everything was kind of going on up and up. And then that same day that I found out that she had

her first negative blood culture, then it was her liver. And then it was all these blood clots. And one of them could have went to her brain. And I was just like, when is it going to end? And so they had to fly Paisley on a medical emergency plane to Houston. It was so hard because Jackson was right across from her. And I had to say bye to him. And I had to take Anaya to a friend's house because my husband had to work. Like bills were still coming in. And he works for the railroad. And so it's not like he could just like, you know, take off work. He'd already used his time for when they were born. And so I left on the plane with Paisley. And we get there and Houston was crazy. It was so different. And I was happy though, because there

was hundreds of people like rushing to like get her to scans and to get her help. And then they found another blood clot and they were so scared. They thought that she maybe had like a blood clotting disorder. And so they were so many at this point. Yes, there were so many at this point. And her liver was just getting so bad. So she was yellow. Her eyes were yellow from the Billy Rubin. Yes. And so when and that was also what was causing her stomach to protrude so much. She was she had jaundice. Yes, she had jaundice. Hi, Billy Rubin. I mean, she was just so sick. She wasn't gaining weight. She was still she was three pounds. She was absolutely tiny. And they were really, really worried that she wasn't gaining weight, you know, because her liver was wasn't able to process

anything at this point. Like it was it was so blocked by these blood clots. And I know all of those antibiotics, one of them, which I was told should have, I mean, has never been used on a baby. But it's either, okay, you take the risk of what this antibiotic might do or you lose your daughter. Right. And it's, of course, you're going to do what you can do to try to save her. And I think that's any parent, you know, like in that type of situation, like, you're going to do what's going to save the baby's life or could potentially because at this point, it's everything's not working. Yeah, like nothing was working. And then I went back to the hotel from leaving Paisley and the NICU. And I got a call from the NICU doctor and love it, saying how good Jackson was doing. And

they said that he gets to come home. Oh, wow. And so I'm just sitting there like, you want to be so happy, but then you're so sad because you have your daughter who's fighting still fighting for her life. Yes. And I didn't know what to do at that point. Like I just started crying on the phone with this doctor. And she was so amazing. And she was just like, you can do this. Like, she's going to be in great hands. Like, but Jackson needs you too. And it was like, yeah, but Paisley's dying. Like, it was so hard. So I had to go get Jackson. And I had to leave Paisley all alone in Houston. That was so hard. Did you bring him to Houston? No, because during flu season, no one but the parents are allowed in. Okay, not even and I could see them. And I

never got to meet them until they came home. Yeah. So no one could go except the parents. Let's take a quick second so we can tell you again about the absolute easiest way to keep track of your health with practically little or no effort. And that is care of. So care of is a monthly subscription vitamin service made from effective quality ingredients tailored to your needs. Care of has a really fun online quiz that makes it easy to determine what vitamins and supplements that you guys might be in need of. It is a short quiz that asks you a few questions about your diet, your health goals, what type of lifestyle that you live and uses the answers to create a personalized vitamin pack just for you. It takes only a few minutes to do it. And you get your personal

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right? Paisley like she was eight hours away from me all by herself. And so they decided finally, her Billy Rubin started going back down. And her liver started to show signs of improvement. And so they were like, she needs to still see a GI doctor. And they sent her back to and we were just going to travel back to Houston to see the liver specialist after they did because they did every single test you can imagine they did for Paisley. But nothing was coming back as what was wrong. Right, like you guys still didn't have answers. Yeah, it was just this big mystery like what's wrong with Paisley, no one knew. And I mean, we went to Houston out of every hospital because this is supposed to be the top liver specialist, like in the world, and not even she could figure

her out. And so they sent us home to back to the Lubbock NICU. And because this one blood test was going to take up to like 12 weeks to get back. And so I was like, Okay, do you even have 12 weeks? Yeah, do we even have 12 weeks? Like no one knew what was going to happen in the meantime. But what we did know was they couldn't do anything different there than they could in Lubbock at this point. So she got to come back home. Well, thankfully, when she came back home, she started breathing on her own. Because she when all that liver stuff was going on her body wasn't so much stress. They had to do something called bag her, which means like she would just stop breathing, like they would breathe for her essentially, they had to rush to her and breathe.

Yeah, breathe for her. And that was so scary that and every time she did it, it was like she she knew she didn't want me to see her like that because it was always right when I left. That that would happen. And then she whenever I was able to hold her and do skin on skin, her and Jackson, their heart rates would go dangerously low. And it's called Brady. And when they would Brady, it's literally their heart just is just dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping. But it only happened when you guys did skin on skin? Well, it happens all the time. And you have to rush to them and you have to hit them because they're heart stopping. And I would be holding her and her heart would go from like 140 down to 40. And the nurse, I remember the first time it happened,

it was the first time I got a holder. And she was like, hit her, hit her. And she started like starts running because she sees it got to like 35. And she was like, hit her like, hit her hard. And you're, you're the mother, you don't want to hit your baby, you know, she's two pounds. Like, and so I hit her and it wasn't even hard enough. And she came up and she I mean, she smacked Paisley's bottom so hard. And then her heart rate shot up, but they're just so little. They just, they can't do things like we could, or like a normal baby could. So I was always having, and finally, it's crazy, like you finally just learn that this is normal. This is your life. When you look at this monitor, like all you do when you're holding your baby in the NICU is you look at that

monitor because you know, if that gets low and it starts beeping. And that's why now, like when I hear beeping, I can't, yeah, like it, I can't hear beeping. I have to leave because it reminds me of like her heart rate just dropping. And that was horrible. Oh my God. So that happened with Jackson and Paisley, but way worse with Paisley because of everything that was going on. So when she came back to Lubbock, she finally stopped braiding. She didn't braidy for like three to five days straight, which was the first time she'd ever done that. Her oxygen levels were really, really low. So she, they took it out to see how she would do. She breathed perfectly on her own. She was taking a bottle in the NICU. So I was like, okay, things are getting better. Like her liver was still

extremely bad, but there was nothing they could do in the hospital at this point. We were just waiting for results. So she was stable. So they released her from the NICU and we went home. And I, you know, I'm always super, super positive. And I just tried to think like, you know, she just needed to be home with mom. That's all she needed. And her liver will get better and she's fine. Like I just kept saying she's fine. And then she came home and that first day she came home, all she did was scream. Like she didn't want me to touch her. She wouldn't eat. Like she literally screamed the whole day. Okay, you guys are always hearing about my little adventures in the kitchen and my latest recipes. So I wanted to tell you one secret that

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And one of my favorite meals is the grilled cheddar burgers. And also another favorite of mine is the cauliflower mac and cheese, which I know Kale loves it too. And the poblano tacos are to die for. For $30 off your first week of HelloFresh, visit hellofresh.com slash coffee combos 30 and enter code coffee combos 30. Let's get back to the show. So you're back to this feeling of like I'm helpless. Yeah, I felt so helpless. Like I can't. Why doesn't she like want me? And so I called the Nicky back and they were like, when was the last time she ate? And I said eight hours ago, she won't eat. She hasn't gone to the bathroom. Like she wouldn't do anything. So I brought her back to the hospital. She wouldn't eat at all. And not even for them. No, she wouldn't eat. And then

finally she started eating a tiny bit. And they were like, okay, well, she's good to go home. I was like, okay. So we went home. And then we went back since she was so sick, we were having to go to the doctor like every two days to make sure we were okay to even be home with her. And they saw her weight kept dropping like when I brought her home, she wasn't even she was just at four pounds. So tiny, tiny, tiny. So she dropped back under four pounds. And they were like, okay, this is really dangerous. Like she should be gaining something, but she was losing way more weight than she should have been. So at this point, they didn't know what to do. No one knew what to do for her. And so then they sent us back to Houston. And they checked her liver again.

And then they discovered that the muscle that you use to suck wasn't developed on her. So she couldn't eat. It was too much of a workout for her. Oh, wow. So that's why she wasn't eating. She couldn't. So it's not because she wasn't hungry? Yeah, she was exhausted. Yeah. And so they gave her like this preemie nipple that was supposed to really help bring that muscle to get it stronger. So then we left again. And it was one night I was sitting with Paisley and her whole school like sunk in. And I just started screaming like what is going on. And so we rushed to the hospital and they were like, she is severely malnourished. Like nothing was working. Everything was getting worse again. So then they took us to Dallas. And we stayed there for like 10 to 15 days. And they

ran every test. By then this was her she had to get her third liver biopsy. Because everything kept coming up as inconclusive. Like they knew she had cholestasis of the liver. The flow wasn't working properly. Like she had her bile ducts were all clogged. I cannot see out of my glass. Her bile ducts were clogged and it was everything was going wrong again. And it was just getting worse. And so they did her liver biopsy. And they finally just realized, okay, she needs a feeding tube. Like we have got to get this little girl to gain weight. Why didn't they think of that sooner? I mean, I feel like at three pounds, they should have thought of that way sooner. I know. I feel the same way. I feel the same way. So they give her the feeding tube. They give her the feeding tube.

And in those 10 days, she gained three pounds. Oh, wow. Yeah, because she no longer had to work. Right. And I've never been so grateful for a feeding tube before. So with the feeding tube, they also gave her MCT oil, which is just lots of fat. Okay. And we would put that in her formula and that would give her way more fat too. So she was just getting all these extra calories. Still really small. I mean, still to this day, she is way behind in size. But so like today, like in comparison to Jackson, what is their so she's caught up a lot. But so Jackson is 17 pounds today. And she's 15 pounds. Okay. So she's not too far behind. No, but still not where she should be. Well, not 15 pounds at nine months old. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you consider

my baby was six pounds, 10 ounces. And what were yours? Six pounds, seven pounds, eight pounds. Yeah. So I mean, you got to consider at nine months. Right. Right. Yeah. And I mean, at nine months old. So to make a really, really long story short, she, they figured out she just needing this, she needed this feeding tube. And by day, once we first got to Dallas, her liver just plummeted. Her Billy Rubin skyrocketed again. And everything just kept going up again, really, really high. And then out of nowhere on day 10 in Dallas, everything just completely dropped back down to almost a normal range. Do you think it was because of the feeding tube? I think finally her liver, the blood clot had gone away. So now the proper nutrients could

flow into her liver and they could start moving the bile out of her liver. Right. And so all of that scar tissue could finally get some nutrients to heal it. And that's the one good thing about a liver is it can heal itself over time. And I really think she just needed time off of antibiotics. She just needed to be left alone. She needed the proper nutrients. I think that she should have had the feeding tube all along. And that's no one's fault. No one just thinks to give a baby a feeding tube. You know, you want to try to push them, you know, so that they can learn to do it on their own. Right. But so once they did that, everything started getting better. Well, then we got back home. Finally, this was the first time we were all home as a family of five. And it was amazing.

I bet. Yeah, to not have to leave my house every day to go visit my babies in the hospital and then come home at night to, you know, Anaya, which amazing, but you want all your babies at home with you. Right. And so her liver, I mean, from where it was, she's amazing now. Right. Like she has gotten so much better. Good. But she's still really, really weak. Like, I mean, she's finally eating from a bottle. She hasn't used her feeding tube now in two months, which is amazing. So she had her feeding tube up until she was seven months old. Yes. So they, we ended up having to, so they did, in Dallas, they put one through her nose where I would put it down into her stomach. But Paisley didn't like that. And she kept ripping it off of her face and pulling it out of her stomach.

And she was just tearing up her face pretty bad. And so they decided to surgically put one in, called a G button. So they put one in her stomach. Yes, in her stomach. So that was great. And then when they did that, she got an umbilical hernia. So they repaired that. And then we were home for a few weeks. And then I noticed that down by her private area was really, really swollen. So I took her to the doctor and they discovered that she had a hernia on her ovary. Oh, wow. And it was really, it started really protruding. Like it was very, very big. She would scream any time I changed her diaper. So they got those image results back from radiology. And they called and they said, your daughter needs to come immediately. Like her ovary is strangulated,

which is going to prevent her from having babies. And both of them were that way. And so they rushed her into surgery and they, he thinks he was hours away from like saving her ovary. Oh, wow. Yeah, because it started to turn colors, which means it was, it was strangulated, it was dying. And so they ended up repairing all of that. She was good. So that's three liver biopsies, three hernias, a G button. This little girl has gone through so much. And then on top of that, when you're premature, your eyes, your retinas aren't fully developed either. That's one of the last things that develop when you're in the, when you're in the womb, that and your lungs. And so, I mean, her lungs were always fine. They were premature, but I mean, never really any

issues with them. And then her doctor, like a month ago, realized that her eye was getting worse and not better. So then she had to go in for emergency surgery for her eye. But now it's better, but it's just like something after the next. Yes, it's always don't know what to expect. Yeah. And I mean, this is the longest we've gone without, I mean, a surgery and doctors, like now she gets to see her GI doctor once every three months. It was like every week at one point. So I mean, everything is on the up and up now. I mean, she gets physical therapy, she gets occupational therapy to help her with like rolling over and sitting up like she can't sit up yet. Okay. And it's so hard to see you like she's nine months old, but she just started like rolling over. Right.

And it's so sad. You should definitely talk to reach out to Leah Messer, because I feel like have you talked to Leah at all. No, that's I should give you guys each other's contacts, because I feel like that's something that she kind of struggled with too, just like not having answers, not knowing. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to put you guys in contact. I think that would be good. But I mean, I'm just happy now. She's better now. I mean, I would say she's extremely intelligent. Paisley is so smart. There's nothing going on there. It's just physical strength that we're working on. Like she doesn't eat food either. She doesn't eat any solids, nothing. I mean, I think that part of it might be a little more understandable just because, you know,

given the fact of everything that she's been through. This might be a stupid question, but is do you are the health issues due to her being premature? Or would she have had these health issues full time or not? So everything that has happened has been because she's been premature and because of the staff infection. Got it. Okay. Every day that she was sitting there week and couldn't move was every day that she could have been developing, like Jackson was able to. So her being sick so long affected everything. Yeah. So now she's really like a six month old baby. I mean, instead of being a nine month old baby because of everything she went through. Right. I mean, the good news is that she's doing well and we're going to keep her in her thoughts,

of course. But tell her something happy. Okay. Yes. And there's so many happy things like she's home now. Right. She's better. How's Anaya with her? Anaya is amazing. She is the most selfless, caring, beautiful little soul ever. She never once complained. I love her. She never complained. We had to cancel a cruise for her when I was pregnant because of the situation. And she said, it's okay, Mama. I just want my brother and sister to be here and healthy. And I was like, yeah. So she's amazing. She's the best big sister. She helps every day with them. She's going to be a wonderful mom. Yeah. I know a lot of people had asked on the Instagram questionnaire that Kail and I love to do about this situation with Anaya and her dad. So yes. Okay. If you don't want to

give too many details, that's completely fine too, like we get it. So I'll just say a little bit because I don't think that he's worthy of my energy at all. He is completely absent. He's been absent since she was two. I told him we wanted to move to Texas and he did not care. He didn't come say bye to her. He would not appear in court when I took him to court. He is a deadbeat, is what he is. And he, Anaya doesn't know anything about him. She doesn't remember him. She has no recollection of when we lived in Nevada. TJ is her dad. He's adopted her. And that's all she knows. And it's amazing because it was like God knew that he is her dad because they look alike. They act alike. They don't like the same foods. Like they're just alike. And so I feel like everything

happened the way it was supposed to. Sure. And through all of this, you were inspired to do the boutique that you just launched, which was what, the other day, right? Yes. So I just launched Paisley and Boutique on Friday, so July 20th. And that was all inspired by her. Yes. I love that. I love that you were able to do that for her because of her. Yes. So does Anaya try to help you pick out stuff for the boutique? Yes. So Anaya is all about fashion, like she wants to move to New York and be a fashion designer. So Anaya helps me. We'll curl up on the couch and go on the computer and look at clothes. And she's always picking cute stuff out. She's helping. She wants to be there when we're doing the photo shoots for it. It's just kind of funny because I think one

day she's going to run it with me. Yeah, of course. So I kind of wanted to ask you this before, but we didn't have a chance last night when we were talking. So you were on 16 and Pregnant, what, six, seven years ago? Yeah. Has your life changed, do you feel like, or do you feel like you're kind of like back in like back to like a normal private life? So, you know, it's kind of weird. Like, I never really thought anyone would care that I was on 16 and Pregnant come six years later. Right. But it's a lot of people still care. And a lot of people still want to know, what am I up to? What am I doing? Right. And I mean, I think it's cool because I want to show people that it's okay to have a baby young because you can still make something of yourself. Sure. You

know, I'm not saying go get pregnant. Well, right. But there's no excuse as to why you can't make something of yourself. You know, like, yeah, you are in charge of your own fate. I'm sure everyone else is just as proud of you as I am. Like when I saw your story, your Instagram, I was like, I love this. Like I love that you made something of yourself. And I saw some of the other girls retweet your boutique. And I love to see like when we all support each other. Yes, I love seeing women support. Yeah. And especially because we relate on a different level because we've been on the show. And you know, there's all kinds of stuff that comes with being on the show. So I was like, I totally can't relate to what it would be like having a kid at 16. You know what

I mean. Yeah. Well, you know what it's like to have a kid and you also know what it's like to be on TV. So it's kind of like, you can like to go through the drama of the situation of being pregnant 16 and being pregnant that way. I could not imagine. I'm just glad that everything, I mean, fingers crossed that Paisley keeps on up and up and oh man, you've been through a lot in such a short period of time. I know I look back and I'm just like, if you would have told me, I'd be, you know, here today, six years ago, I never would have believed you. No, I never thought that I could run my own business, have twins, have a six year old, be married and do all of this. But it's just cool when you put your mind to something and you want it and you're passionate,

you can do anything. Yeah, of course. Yeah, love that. Well, thank you so much for doing this with us. You're welcome. Thank you for inviting me. All right, guys. Well, that's it for coffee convos this week. We will be back next week with Macy Bookout from, well, I guess she's a McKinney now. Yeah, Macy McKinney from Team Mom OG. So thanks for listening. We'll talk to you guys next week. This podcast is brought to you by Wave Podcast Network. Check out all of our shows, including the Brain Candy podcast. I don't get it. Bates and Babies, coffee convos and let's talk about it.