7 Little Johnstons star Liz Johnston revealed her reaction to learning that her daughter, Leighton Drew, is a normal-sized baby.
“Personally, I was a little bit relieved that she was [average height] because hearing my mom’s stories about her pregnancies with me and my older brother, there was a little bit of fear in that,” Liz, 21, told People in an interview published on Wednesday, June 5. She then added that people with dwarfism tend to “have a bit more respiratory issues.”
The TLC personality then explained that babies with dwarfism or achondroplasia often have “larger than normal” heads. Because Leighton, 7 months, is normal-sized, Liz said that the birthing process was “more bearable because she was so little and she was a lot easier to carry than a little person baby would have been able to.”
“But I was very grateful with having my little petite average size daughter, for sure,” she continued. “We were very blessed.”
While her parents, Amber Johnston and Trent Johnston, were initially “rooting for a little person with this being their first grandchild,” Liz shared that they are “thrilled” that Leighton is a “happy and healthy baby.”
“If she was little, they were very happy, but even though she’s tall, they’re still super, super, super happy to have her,” she said about her parents.
After acknowledging that Leighton will grow to be taller than Liz, the mother of one encouraged her fans to be “kind” when it comes to their height difference.
“I know my daughter’s going to be taller than me one day, and I know that one day she’s going to see the not-so-kind people judging me for my small difference,” she told the outlet. “It may affect her in the future, but I will educate her and give her the understanding to educate those people who want to say these nasty things because it’s not fair.”
Liz – who shares Leighton with Brice Bolden – gave birth on November 3, 2023. She weighed 5 pounds and 9 ounces at the time of her birth.
Fans have watched Liz and Brice throughout their pregnancy journey during season 14 of the TLC show. The couple visited the doctors when Liz was 31 weeks pregnant during the May 28 episode, where she explained it was more important to learn if their daughter was a little person as opposed to her gender. “Just because, with my family mostly, my family is mixed with average height and little … It’s always exciting because you never know,” she said at the time.
After they learned the baby was measuring to be “average-sized,” Brice predicted that their daughter was “still going to be more like” Liz.
“She could still be average but still have some of your features,” he said. “I’m just excited that everything looks good, she’s very healthy and doing great.”
