Recap: ‘16 & Pregnant: Jenelle’
Jenelle is from Oak Island, North Carolina, “where the surf is good and the fishing is even better.” Jenelle loves to party and go to the beach, and those are her main personality traits.
We meet Barbara for the first time, fighting with Jenelle about her boyfriend, Andrew, and constant need to “go out.”
Even Jenelle’s friend don’t like Andrew, who apparently used to be a model??? I don’t see it. We see him telling Jenelle that he’s already had his cars and money, and now he lives with his parents.
“We’re in it forever now cuz I’m pregnant.”
July — 34 Weeks
Jenelle kept her pregnancy a secret from her mom for a while, but Barbara seemed to know. She walked in on Jenelle in the bath and saw the belly, which made her upset.
Jenelle’s friends Lauren and Raven are over, and they said they were shocked when they learned the news. Jenelle says, “I seemed so innocent,” and the friends laugh. I think Jenelle was being earnest in that statement.
Lauren says, “The way I see it, if you’re responsible enough to have sex, you’re responsible enough to have a baby.” Which, I mean, isn’t true at all.
Jenelle also has a really unfortunate piercing. I don’t know why we were into this in the late 2000s.
Lauren asks Jenelle if she ever had doubts about having a baby. She says she knew she was going to have the baby no matter what, but Barbara had brought up options like abortion and adoption.
Jenelle says she’s going to finish school and then go to college online. She also complains that Barbara never gave Andrew, a man in his 20s sleeping with a minor, a chance.
Andrew is about to visit Jenelle, but first she wants to go to the beach. She says she spent every summer surfing. Her friend says that her cousin got pregnant as a teenager but continued going to clubs all the time. Jenelle wants an award for not drinking at the parties she goes to.
Lauren also tells Jenelle that she’s going to be different, she’s going to stay home with her kid. Jenelle agrees and says she’s going to be a good mom because when her kid is old enough, she’s going to bring him to the beach.
Next, we see Barbara (and her boyfriend, Mike) at home.Barbara is trying to set rules for Andrew visiting Jenelle. She says this is “not no five day holiday hotel.” Andrew also eats all the food and uses all the water when he’s there, and he hasn’t bought a single thing for the baby.
Mike says, “What do you got? A goose egg. This paper towel has more than you got.”
“Guess what, Mom? News flash. Just because he can’t support me, he can support me mentally, Mom.” Jenelle defends Andrew being a man in his 20s without a job, car, or any semblance of care for the fact that he got a teenager pregnant.
Jenelle says one day she will leave and never come back.
35 Weeks Pregnant
Andrew visits. The first thing we see him do is eat Barbara’s food. Jenelle actually says, “When you’re not here I do everything for myself because I have to.” As if she thinks she’s the only teenager who has to make food for herself?
Jenelle tells Andrew she wants her mom in the delivery room, and he’s not happy. Andrew burns a sausage in the oven.
They play mini golf, and they all talk about why Barbara doesn’t like Andrew. It’s pretty easy for them to list off reasons:
He doesn’t have a license or a car.
He doesn’t have a job.
He slept with her minor daughter.
He’s an alcoholic.
Jenelle tells us how she got pregnant. They got into a fight and stopped talking for a few days, so she stopped taking birth control. They didn’t use a condom. She said that she’d had sex without protection before and didn’t get pregnant, “so why would it suddenly change now?”
Yikes.
Anyway, Andrew lives like four hours away. He tells Jenelle he would visit more often if her mom was nicer to him. He also tells her that he was overqualified to work at McDonalds and the economy sucks “because of the depression.”
Andrew may be overqualified for McDonalds, but he’s definitely not smart enough to clear his resume when he applies for fast food jobs.
Andrew reminds us that he had a car and money, it’s not like he lived with his parents his entire life. SO WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE GETTING A TEENAGER PREGNANT?
“You and I aren’t going to split up anytime soon.”
After she finishes school and turns 18 “we’re going to get married . . . or something.”
These two talk so much shit.
Barbara says she wants Andrew to make more of an effort. Jenelle mentions getting married in the future, to which Barbara hilariously responds, “Oh my god don’t do that. You don’t want to do that. That would be the worst mistake to do that. You’re not doing that, right?”
Andrew is packing his bags to go home. His dad, Barney, is picking him up. Barbara again reminds us that her house is not the “holiday hotel.” She also says there has been “major, major trouble” since Andrew and Jenelle met.
Mike tells Andrew he needs to “man up.” Jenelle has been pregnant for eight months, and he’s still making vague promises about getting a job one day. He reminds us again that McDonalds said he was overqualified. Barney kind of just stands there, which is probably part of the problem.
We then get the iconic moment where Jenelle says, “Mom. Mom. Nothing else worse can happen, Mom.”
August — 37 Weeks
Andrew still has no plans to move or get a job. Jenelle says she thought they’d be moved out by now. They shop at a baby boutique where poor people don’t actually shop.
Jenelle has an ultrasound appointment. They see baby Jace and talk about signs of labor. She tells the doctor or nurse that the father of her child “acts like a little kid. It’s stupid.”
Now it’s time for the baby shower. Throughout this episode, Jenelle is constantly wearing a pink dress. At the party she talks about going back to school. They eat cake. Andrew doesn’t show up. Now she wants to go out with her friends.
Barbara asks Jenelle to stay home and help clean up after the party. Jenelle says “I”m way too tired today,” so she goes out with her friends.
“Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I have to stop going out,” she says.
Jenelle calls Andrew because he hasn’t called her today. Andrew apparently hates when Jenelle goes out with her friends, probably because they have more sense than she does. Andrew says, “You’re nothing but a damn piece of crap. Look at you.”
He also delivers my favorite line.
Jenelle gets mad when Andrew tells her that she’s not grown up enough to have a baby. Jenelle brings up the fact that Andrew has no job, no car, and a drinking problem. He hangs up.
Two weeks later, Jenelle’s water breaks a little early. She’s mad at Andrew but texts him to come. He shows up with a suitcase. Lauren and Amber (who shows up later in Teen Mom 2 as well, show up.
Jenelle’s labor isn’t filmed, but 12 hours later, Jace is born.
Andrew has the fakest moment with Jace ever. He says, “I created that. We created that.” He also tells Jenelle he’s going to be up all night to cherish all the moments he has with Jace since the baby can’t go home with him. Oh, please.
Friends come over to see the baby. Jenelle says the baby looks just like her.
2 Days Old
Jenelle learns to breastfeed, change diapers, and burp a baby. Jenelle thinks that the baby will make things between Andrew and Barbra better. Andrew seems to throw a tantrum, but I’m not sure why.
Jenelle and Andrew talk in the hospital room. Andrew presents a plan that still involves him getting a job at some point in the future. He is telling a woman who is still in a hospital bed from birthing his child that she will never be able to understand a walk in his shoes.
3 Days Old
Barney comes to pick up Jace, and he just seems so unemotional. He doesn’t seem to care that his grandson was just born. And I guess that’s why this is the last time Andrew sees Jace.
1 Week Old
Jenelle says Andrew hasn’t called once, and she also has no time for herself. Watching Jace is way too much for her, so her mom is taking the lead. Jenelle rolls her eyes a lot.
Jenelle can’t wait for Jace to go to daycare. Andrew finally calls her back and says he got arrested for a DUI. When did this guy get a car?
Barbara reminds us that Andrew hasn’t done anything for the baby. She tells Jenelle to make a pro/con list about Andrew. The animation shows us a scale with ‘Hot’ on one side (?) and ‘DUI’, ‘Broke,’ ‘No Job,’ and ‘Drunk dialed’ on the other.
Jenelle goes out with her friends (surprise, surprise). Jenelle wants to call Andrew again. All her friend express the hot take that they wouldn’t want to have a baby around a drunk guy. When he answers the phone he says, “Hey, what’s up beautiful girl?”
So, let me get this straight. Dude’s baby is born. He gets a DUI almost immediately. He’s in jail for seven days, gets out, and starts drinking again. He then calls his girlfriend and has the nerve to say, “I’m in it for the baby.”
Andrew tells Jenelle that his feelings for her have dropped, and she says, “Well ever since you’ve been going to jail and ever since you cannot stop drinking, my feelings have also dropped for you.”
She then says, “I never thought I’d have to raise this baby alone.” Anybody who heard Andrew speak a single word knew you’d have to raise this baby alone, so I don’t know what to tell you.
Jenelle again needs to go “blow off some steam.” We see her dancing with a bunch of guys. She says, “Jace doesn’t need me. He’s got my mom.”
Jenelle is back in school. Her mom gets Jace ready for daycare each day and picks him up every evening. Jenelle says she can “finally focus on [her] social life.”
Tori wants Jenelle to come over and party. As Tori sits on Barbara’s couch with a laptop, Barbara says, “What do you girls think this is, a dog?” Apparently Jenelle has gone out every night this week. Barbara says they should take the baby to “a good family who will raise it.”
Jenelle yells back that she will “leave at the sign of bullshit.” She specifically threatens to run away in the middle of the night. She takes the baby to go party.
1 Month Old
Barbara takes care of the baby constantly, and Jenelle is never home. Jenelle is by far the most obnoxious person to appear on the show so far, and I’m including Farrah and DebzOG in that assessment.
At one point, Jenelle says, “Do you really think I would take off in the middle of the night and leave him in the bed?” Ummmm yes? Refer to several scenes ago when you said you would do exactly that.
She also says, “I don’t even feel like you’re my mom no more. I feel like I have to follow all these rules just to live in your house.”
Barbara is stressed out because of her “bitch of a daughter” and grandson she’s providing full-time care for while also working a 40-hour work week.
Lauren and Amber come by, and Jenelle reveals she hasn’t really seen them because she has been partying with her other friends. They say that people talk about Jenelle being a bad mom and she needs to prove it to them that she’s a good mom.
One Week Later
Jenelle stayed home for two nights, so she’s kind of realizing the responsibility off having a kid. She tells another friend that the first year is the hardest, even though she’s clearly never raised a child. She also says it’s like being in prison.
She tosses in another gem. “When I mature more, I’ll grow up.” She says she can party because, “I make time for myself.” Sure, Jan.
Jenelle tells Barbara she needs her help. Barbara already knows this.
We leave this episode with Jenelle saying she wishes she would have waited. It’s pretty sad knowing what happens in the future, but at least Jace has a grandma willing to step in and take care of him.
This episode was a nightmare. So many fights about “going out!” So many promises by an adult man that he will get a job one day. I hate it.
