Going through a pregnancy is never easy. Add a global pandemic into the mix and you’ll wind up facing obstacles you never thought you would in a lifetime.
The Johnson Family, an adventurous family of five living life to the fullest in faith and love, have almost 2 million subscribers on their YouTube channel and usually document their everyday lives of toys, trips, school and games in their wildly popular videos. Things changed for the high school sweethearts earlier this year when they were expecting a new bundle of joy — their now newborn son Theo — all while trying to adjust to the “new normal” due to the Coronavirus that hit the nation back in February.
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Ultimately deciding to document the entire pregnancy and birth of their son, Jeff and Natalia want families watching the two part experience to know that they aren’t alone when going through something like this and hope that it could inspire both women and parents to be brave during this milestone in their lives.
Celeb Secrets sat down (virtually) with Jeff to talk about documenting the pregnancy, having 3 children and navigating the “new normal,” all while creating vlogs for their biggest supporters.
Celeb Secrets: What first sparked creating vlogs/videos to YouTube? When did you realize that you could potentially pursue it full time?
The Johnson Family: “We first started getting into YouTube after some of our family had us in their vlog channel. It sparked our interests knowing that this was a way for us to spend more family time and potentially be able to create a better life for our family. About 6 months into the channel we realized that we were able to make more money on the platform than we ever could dream about with our regular jobs!”
CS: For people that haven’t seen any of your videos yet, what is a typical one like?
TJF: “If you have never watched our channel you can expect to find our entire family in every video, whether it’s a skit for Halloween or a travel vlog to places like Norway and Hawaii or simply a day in the life of our family. We try and film every major moment for our kids and also enjoy creating fun memories with friends and family.”
CS: How is it having your daughters (and newborn son) on this journey with you?
TJF (Jeff): “We initially just wanted to document the pregnancy after we had a miscarriage. To be honest we were always terrified to film about the pregnancy after that had happened. When COVID hit we were told that no one would be allowed to be in the hospital with Natalia, potentially not even myself. Thankfully our hospital allowed us to be together but we wanted to show our viewers what it’s like to be pregnant during a pandemic but also what it’s like to be born in a pandemic. Both are going to be very interesting stories as time goes on.”
CS: Being so open with your viewers, you documented Natalia being pregnant during the Coronavirus pandemic. What made you want to do this?
TJF (Jeff): At this stage we are approaching 5 years on YouTube. We have a very good system and a great team. Myself (Jeff) took on the responsibility of coming up with content ideas and the filming process. Natalia and I have a great system in place and she was excited to update our fans on her process considering this was the first time she had ever been able to experience pregnancy and birth on YouTube.
CS: What do you hope other mothers (or parents just raising kids during the pandemic in general) take away from watching the experience?
TJF: “We hope that other mothers or families can learn what it’s like to have a baby during a pandemic. There are so many brave women and parents out there that are having to do this alone or with little support and we know how hard that can be. Thankfully we have support and a great hospital but we know that not everyone can have the same experience as we did. We are blessed to be able to have our baby Theo and he was healthy and happy. If you watch our journey, we hope it inspires others to help and support those around them.”
CS: How has the content changed during the pandemic? Do you find yourself creating more or less?
TJF: “We find ourself creating on a normal basis. Yes, we have had to adjust the way our content is but thankfully we are able to create within our home and having a new baby in the family always keeps us on our feet!”
CS: What’s to come from upcoming videos? We know that Jeff is also a singer/songwriter – is showcasing music a possibility?
TJF: “Upcoming Videos: Homeschooling for the first time ever, lots of Firsts for baby Theo, new music for Jeff and hopefully lots more travel!”
CS: Since we’re Celeb Secrets, do you have any behind-the-scenes secrets from filming vlogs that viewers wouldn’t know when watching?
TJF: “Behind the scenes secrets… well most people may not know that we have a team around us. Before it was a big secret to have Editors. We were told that the fans expected vloggers to Create, Film, Edited, upload 7 days a week! Well you can imagine the stress that can bring to a family, so we decided to invest in our health and lives by creating a team to help make our content better and better every day!”
