16 and Pregnant Recap: My, Oh Miah, What a Teen Relationship Mess

On this week’s 16 and Pregnant, the most recent young couple to be followed by mtv is Jamie McKay and her boyfriend Ryan from Asheville, North Carolina. Jamie is a senior honor student and student council member who is hoping her baby will have the father she never had. Unfortunately, her daughter’s paternity is the product of a drunken, deadbeat, irresponsible teenage boy. He’s lost his license due to multiple speeding tickets and a DUI. Ryan sounds like a clASS act. I swear, mtv should’ve saved Jordan Ward and her role model worthy baby daddy Brian Finder till the end of the season…not the premiere. Now I am measuring all the young fathers against him, and I know that is a total lost cause.

We learn that (yet again) the couple didn’t use any form of birth control. Calling mtv execs…perhaps you should have more contraceptive PSAs airing during the show and less shampoo commercials–just an idea. Jamie’s friends were shocked to find out her news, and while they don’t seem too keen on Ryan, they are supportive. One lad, wise beyond his years (??) opines (and I paraphrase), “A mother becomes a mom when she gets pregnant, but a father doesn’t feel like a dad until his sees his baby.” Here’s hopin’! Jamie’s mother isn’t Ryan’s biggest fan either, and he heads farther down the pecking order when he can’t attend Jamie’s doctor’s appointment because he’s due in court for that whole “bad driver” silliness. And oh, the doctor’s appointment…the look on that poor ob-gyn’s face when she asks Jamie what she was most concerned about with birth and motherhood. Answer? Stretch marks. Please, sweet young girl, try to realize the gravity of what is about to happen.

CLICK THE CONTINUE READING BUTTON TO READ THE REST!

Jamie’s typically M.I.A. father makes time to come see her–his new family in tow–although their relationship has been strained. He found out about her pregnancy on myspace (that’s still a site?) and didn’t call her on her birthday. Watching their conversation was very de ja vu, as it’s the same eye contact avoidance, stammering and excuses present when Jamie is trying to talk to Ryan. Her father promises to come to the hospital for the birth, but I am not holding my breath. He is noticeably absent at his daughter’s baby shower.

Ryan and Jamie’s mother Aprille butt heads when discussing what will happen after the baby comes. YET AGAIN the baby daddy is invited to come live with his girlfriend after the baby is born. Although I have to hand it to Aprille–she totally puts her foot down and won’t allow him to share a room with her daughter. Ryan becomes elusive after the (very mild) confrontation, and of course he’s screening Jamie’s calls when she goes into labor. Five hours later, Ryan shows up saying he was sound asleep after waiting up the past several nights for her to call with the news of the impending birth. Geez dude, how long did it take you to come up with that one? Jamie calls out Ryan for being Smelly McBoozerson, and his glassy eyes try to focus as the doctor uses forceps to aid in the delivery. Thankfully, her father does arrive at the hospital to meet his granddaughter, Miah.

Once home, the couple gets into an emotional argument with (a still drunk perhaps?) Ryan wanting to take Miah home with him. There is a lot of crying and hyperventilating from both parties. Jamie’s mom lays into her daughter’s boyfriend for his hospital hangover. You go, Aprille! Jamie (understandably) doesn’t want her new daughter shipped off to Ryan’s house, so she takes care of him on her own. He refuses to come back to Jamie’s house so as not to confront her mother. (Anyone remembering Josh Smith from last week? I am so sick of these douchebags teen dads thinking that they don’t have to respect anyone but yet they try to command respect from everyone. Ridiculous.) Jamie finally agrees to that she and Miah will attend his family’s Halloween party and allows him to pick them up. The party doesn’t accomplish what Ryan had planned, and when Jamie starts back to school, she reveals that the couple hasn’t interacted since that night.

Luckily for Jamie, her school has an on-campus daycare. However, I sincerely hope that seeing Miah in a car seat on a school bus and knowing Jamie was called out of class to feed her daughter is a wake-up call for any of these girls the media whispers are trying to get pregnant to get cast on this show. To make matters worse, Jamie learns that not only does her recent ex have a new girlfriend, he was likely cheating with said new girlfriend the night she went into labor. What a dumba$$–and for once, I’m not referring to Ryan, I am speaking of his new lady friend. Ryan is all “me me what are you doing to me why are you keeping her from me” but now I’m seeing the smarts behind straight-A Jamie…she is going to let the court settle their custody dispute and she changes her phone number. She isn’t “keeping” Ryan’s daughter from him, she is trying to ensure that both of their parental rights are protected for the best interest of their child.

It seems (thankfully) that Jamie is sticking to her guns about not reconciling with Ryan. In the after-show interview on mtv, Jamie admits that she and Ryan are no longer on speaking terms. She says that she still loves him (NOOO!) but that she will never be with him (GO WITH THAT!). During the custody dispute, he is allowed weekly visitation which he has missed on more than one occasion. According to updates posted Tuesday evening on her official Facebook fan page, Ryan sees his daughter on Wednesdays during a supervised visitation (smart girl), and Jamie is not thrilled with how her story was portrayed by the network. Here’s hoping that this girl is strong enough to stay on her path and continue doing what is best for her and Miah.

X