16 and Pregnant - a New Season

After watching the last few episodes of Teen Mom a few weeks ago, I was excited to see the new season of the reality show 16 and Pregnant which becomes Teen Mom after the girls have their babies. The first episode aired last night on MTV and I was anxiously waiting. The hour long show follows a set of 6 girls on the road of the last month of their pregnancy and then the struggles that they face as new moms who are still wanting to be the teenager that they are. Produced by Morgan Freeman, it is a great learning tool if teen girls are thinking of becoming pregnant or struggling with her own pregnancy or newborn. Here is a review of the first episode of season 2.

As the show begins, we meet Jenelle. She is a 16 year old girl who loves hanging out at the beach and partying with friends. She lives at home with her mom and mom's boyfriend, Mike. Jenelle's boyfriend, Andrew , is an ex-model who now is unemployed , living at home, and doesn't have a car. Jenelle's mom does not like Andrew.

We watch as Jenelle goes to the doctor and makes plans with Andrew of getting married after she turns 18. Jenelle questions Andrews' motives as her impending delivery date is drawing nearer to her friends. She seems surprised that he has not stepped up and gotten a job to help support her and the new baby that will be arriving soon.

With Andrew living 4 hours away, when he comes to visit he must stay at Jenelle's house. Of course, her mom doesn't approve, but lets him stay. He carefully plans to not be in the house at any time that her mom is home and awake.He only stays for the weekend and then leaves, leaving Jenelle without much support other than mom with whom she has a very volatile relationship. However, Jenelle does have a couple of friends that seem to really care about her and support her. Andrew gets mad when Jenelle goes out with her friends and we see a brief reaction out of him when he finds out that they are out shopping one afternoon as he yells at Jenelle over the phone calling her stupid and a piece of crap.

As Jenelle goes into labor and arrives at the hospital, she texts Andrew to tell him that she is in labor as she wants him there. He is in the delivery room when she delivers the baby boy, Jace, after 12 hours of labor.. He seems to be interested in the baby and keeping their relationship strong. However, as Jenelle goes home, she realizes that Andrew is not as concerned as he doesn't call to check on her or the baby.

About a week after she and baby arrive home, Andrew does call but he is drunk and has just gotten out of jail on a DUI charge. This infuriates Jenelle and she decides with the help of her friends that she does not want him in her life if he is going to act this way. She tells him and he tells her that they are done. She agrees and faces the cold hard truth that she is going to be a single parent to baby Jace.

After several fights with her mom about going out and leaving mom to care for Jace, Jenelle's friends talk to her about not going out as much and how people are talking about her being a bad mom. She doesn't like what is being said, but she doesn't want to give up her "me" time either. She wants to be the same teen that she was before and yet, she can not be and get along with mom. After talking to her mom, she finally sees that she needs to be a little more responsible.

My thoughts are that Jenelle has a lot of growing up to do and needs to quit threatening her mom in arguments that she will leave and take the baby if her mom doesn't leave her alone. This girl seems to used to getting her way by threatening to leave, so I believe that she will need to make some real improvement or mom should make her leave.

I am still looking forward to this new season and meeting the next girl and following all of their stories and lives as new moms.