‘I’m Pregnant And….” TV Show Puts the Blues in Baby Blues

Discovery health has just added a new show to their Tuesday night primetime lineup, and it rivals some of the ever-downer television shows of A&E. People sure do love their train wrecks, and with a market inundated with plenty of semi-scripted reality shows, docu-reality programs such as Intervention and Hoarders on A&E have gained mass attention and Emmy-recognition, as poignant and evocative programs with a hardcore story to tell.

Discovery Health takes this concept to a new level, with its newest series that premiered last night, Tuesday, December 1, at 9:30 PM (ET/PT) I’m Pregnant and…This series documents the final stages of pregnancy and some time shortly after the birth, of a pregnant woman dealing with seemingly indomitable emotional and physical obstacles that go way beyond a really bad case of morning sickness. Some issues that will be touched upon in the series include homelessness, imprisonment, and eating disorders. That’s right, eating disorders on a pregnant woman, hmmm…wonder how that works.

Well, last night’s episode featured a women who was pregnant and addicted. Yep, pregnant and on drugs. This young woman, Colette, deals with pregnancy while nursing a serious addiction to heroin. The upside, is that Colette quits using the lethal drug while pregnant but the downside is that she, like most recovering addicts, weans herself off the drug and staves off withdrawals with the use of Methadone. Which means that her unborn child will more than likely be born with an addiction to methadone.

While it’s inappropriately comical to imagine a preemie stomping out of the womb demanding some smack, the truth of the situation is heart wrenching and Colette’s story is one that too often goes unrecorded and unrecognized.

Even though this brief glimpse into the heart of a heroin addict still drummed up feelings of resentment and often caused me to mutter “dumb biotch” at the tv screen, (especially when Colette’s monotonous and stoic tone of voice made her sound heartless), I still got a sense that this was a woman who wanted so desperately to change for her child and overcome the situation she had long been too overwhelmed by.

While I still feel the editing style, and production value of Intervention makes it a more dramatic portrayal of the human condition, the shock-value of the condition that these women find themselves in while pregnant is plenty to draw in viewers week after week, [train wreck after train wreck].