Catelynn Baltierra (née Lowell) reveals what it was like when she introduced her one-year-old daughter to the older daughter Catelynn (and now-husband Tyler Baltierra) put up for adoption.
Catelynn suffered postpartum depression after the birth of baby Novalee a year ago.
Catelynn reveals that the thought of introducing baby Novalee Reign Baltierra to older, adoptive sister Carly Davis (whom she and Tyler put up for open adoption six years ago) left Catelynn a “wreck”.
How did Catelynn and Tyler find introducing Nova and Carly?
“We went to the beach so we were feeding ducks with bread,” Catelynn recalls of that afternoon. “Carly just wanted to hold Nova immediately and be like, ‘Can I feed her? Can I hold her?’ ”
Carly “kept showing Nova to everybody and saying, ‘This is my birth sister.’ It was so cute!”
After it was over “…I felt perfectly fine again.”
Carly’s adoptive parents Brandon Davis and Teresa Davis keep Carly’s life off-camera. Catelynn and Tyler have shared photos of Carly against Brandon and Teresa’s wishes. In one instance Catelynn and Tyler shared private photos of Carly out of revenge. Brandon and Teresa threatened to cut off contact. But that is in the past.
“As long as I get to see her face and hear her voice, hey – I’m sad that I can’t share everything, but our story’s still out there,” says Catelynn. “And people are still learning about adoption, and you guys get some time to see her, and I get to see her, so it kind of works for both of us.”
Brandon and Teresa (and Carly) were at Catelynn and Tyler’s wedding. “I was sitting in the room [before the ceremony], and Teresa came in there, just by herself, and she said a few things to me,” recalls Catelynn.
Brandon, Teresa and Carly “got to see me [at the wedding] before anybody else, so that was definitely a special moment.”
