"I was like, 'I'm not Farrah, y'all could use my toilet,'" says Catelynn.
Everyone's lives changed in early 2020, when the coronavirus started to take over the country. While production on "Teen Mom OG" was shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, it resumed later last year -- and things were a little different when it picked back up again.
In addition to social distancing measures, masks for everyone, multiple tests and continuous sterilization, MTV crews reduced indoor filming and took a number of other precautions. Production even set up porta potties outside the women's homes, to limit the number of people going inside.
"I was so pissed about the porta potty," Catelynn Baltierra told TooFab. "I was like, 'I'm not Farrah, y'all could use my toilet!"
"The porta potty was interesting," added Cheyenne Floyd with a laugh.
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View Story"Honestly, at first it was on the side of my house and I just never really paid attention to it -- but then when I started to redo my backyard, I needed trucks to get back there," Floyd added. "Then the porta potty got moved to the front of my house, and then I was like, 'Okay this has to go, this is just enough for me,' but I couldn't complain because I didn't have to use it."
Baltierra explained her family and the crew got tested three times a week and her home was Covid-cleaned once a week.
"We always had to stay six feet apart, like the crew and cast always had to stay six feet apart. They always had to wear a mask. They always had to sanitize their equipment and stuff," she continued. "They'd have to leave the mics somewhere that were already sanitized and we'd have to put them on ourselves."
"There were lots and lots of different regulations and rules, but none of us got sick," she added. "We all always tested negative. So, you know it works what they're doing."
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View StoryMackenzie McKee also told TooFab she was "so thankful" for how cautious MTV was during filming -- so cautious, she said, her family even "got in trouble."
"We wanted to try out a new church here in Florida and they were like, 'We have to shut down filming and you can't do that,'" she said. "So then we found a drive-in church. They didn't bend any rules. They were so good. And so cautious and I am now very thankful for that."
"They never went home and came back, they stayed and they dedicated their life to me and making sure we are safe above their own, you know, going back to see their own family," added McKee. "So it was hard on them. And filming was pretty heavy. We filmed almost daily, but I got really close because instead of switching out crews, I get to see the same people every day."
Cheyenne was doubly worried to start filming again, as her daughter Ryder was born with very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, or VLCAD, which means she can't process fatty foods. She's been hospitalized for the disorder in the past and Floyd was worried what it could mean in the time of Covid.
"When all the coronavirus and COVID started to come up, I initially got on a call with our doctors and was like, 'What does this mean for somebody like her?'" she recalled. "But because there's not enough information out to know about it, there's not much that they can tell me either, other than you need to take every precaution that you can to ensure that she doesn't get it."
"Luckily, Ryder's had a really good run right now as far as not getting sick or anything, but we keep her really really close to make sure that she doesn't get anything," she added. "She was supposed to start school this year, but we actually didn't start that for her because of COVID."
The classes would have been virtually, with Cheyenne and Ryder's father, Cory Wharton deciding "we sound crazy trying to get a 3-year-old to get through a Zoom class." Instead, Cory's mother and Cheyenne's stepmother -- who are preschool directors -- sent over packets for Ryder to do now from home.
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View StoryWhen filming started, Floyd said she was "such a nervous Nancy," they filmed everything outside. "As the weeks went on, we would do it inside when it started getting cold ... but they would take all the precautions in the world," she added.
She also said Ryder was "the best of all of us" when it came to testing -- "and she would do the test herself," added Floyd.
While all of them have admitted to feeling a bit "stir crazy" at times, the reality stars have been doing alright hunkering down at home. Cheyenne said coparenting has been going well for her and Cory, while Catelynn said she thankfully didn't "fall into any older habits" with her anxiety and depression because she's been so busy.
"I mean, obviously, it happens once in a while, but more or less you're just so busy focused on, 'Okay, what about the kids? How can I make this feel normal? Let's go outside and play, or go in our pool,'" she added. "Thank the lord we put a pool up because we were able to swim in the pool during the pandemic because we couldn't go to a beach. So, I focused a lot of my energy on the kids, and what to do to kind of make it seem normal."
She added that her husband, Tyler Baltierra, has also been doing "really well" through this all and the two of them are stronger than anything.
"I feel like me and him are just so solid that anything, you could throw anything at us and we're going to be fine," she added. "There were really no issues there at all. It was just nice being able to spend quality time with each other because we were kind of forced too."
"Teen Mom OG" premieres January 26 on MTV.