Hollywood Popular Artists

Jun 6th 2012, 03:30

Each episode of "16 and Pregnant" shows true life stories of girls' facing difficulties and upheavals in their lives, but last week's episode about Kristina showed a young woman who had to face tremendous odds. Like Farrah Abraham before her, Kristina lost the father of her baby.

In the episode, we never get to meet Todd, Kristina's fiancé, but we see his picture often. Kristina and Todd were swimming at Galveston Beach in Texas when a riptide pulled them under. A lifeguard saved Kristina, but Todd didn't make it.

Throughout Kristina's pregnancy, people kept trying to get her to "feel" or to talk about her loss. You could see people being awkward around her because they didn't know what to say. For the most part, Kristina held it together, but eventually she let the tears out. How could she not?

Kristina is definitely a strong lady. At seven months she had contractions and had to stay in the hospital until the doctors felt she was far along enough that they could perform a C-section. Her baby, Lucas, still weighed under four pounds and had to be kept in intensive care a few weeks. Finally, mommy and baby were able to go home together. Toward the end of the episode, Kristina began seeing a therapist and admitted she often held her grief inside because she didn't want to add to the grief others were feeling.

In "16 and Pregnant" finale special, "Life After Labor," which aired tonight, we saw Kristina again when she talks to Dr. Drew. She's still in therapy and says it's helping. She's also recently engaged and her new guy TJ is helping her take care of baby Lucas.

What Kristina's going through is really hard stuff. Her therapist tells her, "Grief is not a process that has a time limit on it." People will spend different amounts of time grieving. Some need to grieve right away and others will want to grieve later. It's not weak to acknowledge your feelings or to cry. Sometimes seeking professional help can make a difference, but you can also talk to your loved ones or use creative expressions like music to work through your pain. Like Dr. Drew mentioned in the special, check out Half of Us if you're also dealing with grief.

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