WHEN Nicole and Anthony met aged 13, they had no idea how their lives were about to change. Speaking to Love Don't Judge, Nicole said, "We got disowned at 14 by getting pregnant." The young couple decided to have their baby - and it's something that they faced some tough criticism over. "The way people reacted when they first found out I was pregnant... They were very judgemental and they just stopped talking to us. I felt very isolated," Nicole explained. Agreeing, Anthony added, "A lot of friends stopped talking to me. Like you really messed up your whole life." In this episode of Love Don't Judge, the pair will be reading a letter from Nicole's sister, who will be candidly revealing how she felt when the teens had their daughter, Mina. Reflecting, Nicole said, "We cannot imagine our life without Mina, because Mina is just, Mina!"
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00People judge us because we had a baby at 14.
00:04Say hi.
00:06What's your name?
00:07Mina.
00:08I'm Mina.
00:10Mina.
00:11Cat.
00:12What is this?
00:13Cat.
00:14Do you know what that is?
00:15Me.
00:16I never thought I'd have a kid at 14.
00:21I felt very isolated, like I had nobody.
00:24I told my sister.
00:25She looked at me in my eyes and she said,
00:27Are you kidding me?
00:28My body like, it dropped.
00:33My name is Nicole and this is my partner, Anthony.
00:35And we got disowned at 14 by getting pregnant.
00:38When we first met, we were 13 years old.
00:41And we started texting on Instagram.
00:43And I would ghost him a lot because I wouldn't want to text him.
00:48We hung out for the first time and we clicked.
00:52To me, when I first seen her, I liked her.
00:56She was cute and funny and stuff.
00:58Should I take some of the water out?
01:00No.
01:01The way people reacted when they first found out I was pregnant,
01:04they were very judgmental.
01:05And they just stopped talking to us.
01:07I felt very isolated, like I had nobody but my sister and my boyfriend.
01:11When we had our daughter, Mina, we were 15 years old.
01:14It was barely our first year of high school and we got pregnant.
01:17This is going to take forever.
01:18That's enough.
01:20We currently don't live together, but we see each other like every single day.
01:23Or every other day.
01:24Yeah.
01:25We always spend the night with each other and Mina.
01:27Basically, it feels like I live there.
01:29He's there all the time.
01:30I'm there all the time.
01:31Are you going to drink coffee and bulldog noodles?
01:33Cheers.
01:34Cheers.
01:36It's spicy.
01:37I found out I was pregnant on May 9, 2022.
01:41I bought a pregnancy test.
01:43I was embarrassed to buy it for myself at the cashier.
01:45And I actually pretended to call my sister on the phone.
01:48And I was like, oh, is this a pregnancy test?
01:50Because they're probably like, why is this little girl buying a pregnancy test?
01:54And I had my school backpack on, so people were looking at me.
01:57My stomach dropped, like if I was on a roller coaster.
02:01And I was scared.
02:03She told me that she was pregnant and that she took three pregnancy tests.
02:07I was nervous.
02:09I didn't know what to do, how to prepare myself to be a dad.
02:13My brother, he has eight kids.
02:15So, my mom, she kind of already had a feeling that something was going to happen like that.
02:19She was kind of in shock, like, okay.
02:21She was mad at the same time.
02:23She didn't talk to me for like two or three days.
02:25But then she just forgot about it.
02:27She said, okay.
02:28And she started buying baby clothes and stuff.
02:30So, I live with my sister.
02:32And I was scared my sister was going to find the pregnancy test in my backpack.
02:36When I told my sister, she looked at me in my eyes and she said, are you kidding me?
02:40My body, like, had dropped.
02:43And, like, I just started crying.
02:45Like, I just started crying so much.
02:47She was like, what are you going to do?
02:49We can't raise a baby in this house.
02:51And after she was, like, yelling at me, she was trying to, like, comfort me.
02:54She said everything was going to be fine.
02:56But at that moment, to me, it felt like nothing was going to be fine.
03:00I felt like I was already growing up quick living with my mom because my mom was sick.
03:05She had diabetes.
03:06I wouldn't go to school sometimes because I would get anxiety that, like, something would happen to her.
03:11And then she passed away.
03:14I think that's what made me grow up fast, too.
03:17So we are going to read a letter from my sister about how she felt when she found out I was pregnant at 14.
03:23It's been a while since we spoke to my sister about that subject.
03:29I was truly in shock and thought my sister was playing a prank on me.
03:33There were many thoughts racing through my head and a lot of confusion.
03:37My expression was, you got to be effing kidding me.
03:41Of course, I was angry as we had already been through a lot, losing our mom.
03:46Initially, I had reservations about their ability to raise a child as teen parents.
03:51They have persevered and proven they are capable.
03:54They are loving parents to me, and it shows greatly.
03:56We weathered the storm, and now we have this amazing ray of sunshine in our lives.
04:00That was heartwarming.
04:02I thought it was going to be something bad, but the way she explained it all is how she felt.
04:08And this is me and Mina when she was born.
04:11She was hairy. Look how small she was.
04:14You could barely tell she was in there.
04:16And then this one of me and Anthony.
04:19When I first held Mina, I felt happy and emotional because I heard her first cry.
04:25And when I first heard her cry, it made me kind of sad because at first I thought something was wrong with her, but everything was fine with her.
04:32She was just crying.
04:33Mine and Anthony's relationship was rocky because we didn't know how to parent together.
04:40I had a lot of anxiety because I didn't know how to change a baby's diaper.
04:44Anthony was teaching me actually when I was pregnant how to change a baby's diaper on a bear.
04:49Mina coming into the world, it changed our relationship because in the beginning it was just us.
04:54I would try to go visit her, but at that time I didn't have a job.
04:57I was working, but it was part-time.
04:59I would try to go visit her, but at that time I didn't have a job.
05:01I was working, but it was part-time.
05:03And it was part because of the school.
05:05So when the school ended, I didn't have the job.
05:08So it was kind of hard for me to get another job.
05:11Sometimes what I would do is I would get oranges and lemons and avocados.
05:16And I would go walking around trying to sell them like a dollar for five lemons or like ten lemons for $20 or however.
05:23$20?
05:24Yeah, because it was the big lemons.
05:26But I don't know because I was a kid. I didn't know what to do.
05:28Hi.
05:29Hi.
05:33It's really hard doing school with her, especially if she's home with me by myself.
05:37Because Mina, she constantly is doing something.
05:39She likes to use my keyboard.
05:41And it's hard to do my schoolwork because when I'm using it, she wants to like play with it.
05:45And I'm just like, you can't play with it.
05:47Say bye.
05:48Bye.
05:49Because we have different teachers, I'll watch the baby while she goes to her class.
05:53And then when she's done, I'll go to my class and then she'll watch the baby.
05:57She's encouraging me to go to work as a 17-year-old teen mom.
06:00It's hard for me too because I have to go to work and then I have to go to school.
06:03When I'm watching the baby, I can't really do homework.
06:06When I told my friends I was pregnant, they were like so supportive.
06:10And then as soon as I like stopped going to school, they stopped talking to me.
06:14Like they just stopped talking to me. They cut me off.
06:17Get that one.
06:19The bunny one.
06:21A lot of friends stopped talking to me.
06:23Some of them were supportive and some of them were not.
06:25You've messed up your whole life basically.
06:27You're not even finished with school. You don't even have a job.
06:30You don't even have a car.
06:31Or you could have had this many years to your life to do by yourself.
06:34Now you've got to support your child for 18 years and blah, blah, blah.
06:37No, not like that. More straight.
06:39Like this?
06:40Yeah. No more. Ew!
06:42Up.
06:44Like that.
06:45Okay.
06:46We get a lot of judgment on social media.
06:49I think our account blew up because I made a video.
06:52I think I was making spaghetti.
06:53People just think Anthony looks a lot older than me.
06:55So that was the automatic like, oh, he's weird.
06:58Why is he messing with like a little kid or something?
07:01And I'm just like, what?
07:02Like we're literally the same age.
07:05Girl, we know you.
07:06Boyfriend ain't your age.
07:08Laughing emoji.
07:10That's so dumb.
07:11That's facial hair.
07:12Yeah, I guess a girl doesn't know what puberty is.
07:14And hormones.
07:15People say that he'll probably leave me in like a couple years.
07:19And then we're going to have a lot of problems in our life
07:22because we ended up having a child at 15 years old.
07:25Why do you both do this to yourself?
07:27Kids having kids.
07:28Bro, 14 is beyond crazy.
07:30In the beginning, it did affect me a lot.
07:33Like I would literally cry and I would like tell myself like,
07:36oh my God, just delete your account.
07:37But then I would be like, why?
07:39Hi!
07:40It doesn't affect me anymore either.
07:42I just go on with my day.
07:45Say hi.
07:46Hi.
07:47I'm.
07:48I'm.
07:49I'm.
07:50Mina.
07:51Mina.
07:52This is Mina and she's 2 years old.
07:53She's like our little mini twin.
07:55She looks like Anthony, the girl version.
07:57Mm-hmm.
07:58She does.
07:59Yeah!
08:00Mina's very energetic and playful and a very happy baby.
08:03Happy baby.
08:05What I love most about Mina is I love waking up to her.
08:10And she loves to cuddle me.
08:13When she wakes up in the morning, she's always asking for breakfast.
08:16Yeah, she loves me, Dad.
08:18I'll probably start crying if she told me she was pregnant at 15.
08:21She's going to suffer just like we did with our struggles.
08:24Me, I'll instantly pop out.
08:26I'll be mad because I don't want her going through the same situation as we are going now because it's hard.
08:35I hope she does not follow our footsteps because she has a good life ahead of her.
08:39Kick it.
08:40Kick it.
08:41Woo!
08:42Kick it.
08:43High five.
08:45Anthony changed my life for the better because he's really funny and he's brought a big spark into my world.
08:52And he's an amazing dad to my daughter.
08:55What is that?
08:57Who is that?
08:58Fish.
08:59Fish.
09:00She's always encouraging me to not give up on things.
09:03So if I would feel down, she's always bringing me back up.
09:06Fish.
09:07That's a baby.
09:08We could not imagine our life without Meena because Meena is just Meena.
09:13I want Meena to have a successful life and I want Meena to go to a university.
09:17What we will say to the people that judge us is keep judging.
09:21Keep praying.
09:22No, no, no, no.
09:23What?
09:24No.
09:38I love you.
09:39I love you.
09:40I love you.
09:41I love you.
09:42I love you.
09:43I love you.
09:44I love you.
09:45I love you.
09:46I love you.
09:47I love you.
09:48I love you.
09:49I love you.
09:50I love you.
09:51I love you.
09:52I love you.
09:53I love you.
09:54I love you.
09:55I love you.
09:56I love you.
09:57I love you.
09:58I love you.
09:59I love you.
10:00I love you.
10:01I love you.
10:02I love you.
10:03I love you.
10:04I love you.
10:05I love you.
10:06I love you.