My Take on the Nick & Natalie Miscarriage Episode
I watched last night. Here are my thoughts.
Nick said he appreciates the support if people want to send them notes of support but he doesn't want any criticism. Since Nick has always said if you choose to post something then it's fair game for discussion I am going to give my honest assessment despite the pain. That was their choice to post.
- I felt like I was watching an abused woman at gunpoint. This was not OK. Natalie sobbed the entire time. 45 minutes of her in deep grief. This was not something that should have been put out there to the public. Not while they were in the middle of it. It shows how far their lives have gone down this strange rabbit hole. Seriously, it was not OK.
Nick rationalized that they were being real and "raw." Natalie rationalized that "the only reason I'm doing this is for River." Something about how she can look back and hear how loved her sibling was.
They said they discuss what things of their life to include on the show and both decided this would be a good thing to do to help other women.
- I felt like I was watching an abused woman at gunpoint. This was not OK. Natalie sobbed the entire time. 45 minutes of her in deep grief. This was not something that should have been put out there to the public. Not while they were in the middle of it. It shows how far their lives have gone down this strange rabbit hole. Seriously, it was not OK.
Frankly, I think they believe those rationalizations, but their underlying motive was otherwise.
At the end of the episode when Natalie was crying for the second time about how hard it is to put on a good face, to do her job and pretend to be happy, to take care of River, and only be able to cry after River goes to sleep, she said, "So if I post an ad, click on it....I'm only kidding."
Nick tried to recover from this by saying sometimes people use humor to get through trauma. That's a valid coping mechanism, or something like that.Natalie said she didn't want to flush the toilet and flush the baby down. Nick said the toilet was essentially just blood but he scooped his hands in and "picked up the baby." He congratulated himself multiple times for doing this and suggested as hard as it was others should do the same. That they could now bury the baby and give it a proper burial. No offense if others have done this but, eww, what? It was still some early tissue at this point. It must have been quite early in the pregnancy because her doctor told her maybe it wasn't the baby and to come in and be checked out. That got Natalie's hopes up. So the bloody tissue of the fertilized egg must not have looked much like a baby. They did not know it's sex. I understand how hard the loss is when you were excited and planning and your body was getting ready to have the baby but that was over the top weird in my opinion. Maybe it's a Christian thing? Nick really, really, really wanted credit for being so brave about sticking his hands in the bloody toilet and saving the "baby."
There was a weird child (Natalie) parent (Nick) vibe. The way she talked about it and about Nick it felt very much like she was reaching out to Nick like he was her father, more so than her partner. When she said she loved him it felt like she was saying it the way someone says I love you to their dad.
After the blood in the toilet, she screamed for Nick. She then went into the shower and Nick said that he went into the shower with her, and that all three, including River were in the shower.
Is that weird? I would have wanted to go into the shower myself and grieve. Why was River in the shower with them?Natalie kept saying how guilty she feels for not being able to be a good mom right now or a good wife. Nick said, it's OK. This is going to sound super duper mean but it felt like she was milking it. I'm sorry for saying that but she talked about how hard it was to to work and do her job at the show and do all these things so Nick has to do everything. Why does she have to work? She works for her husband and (again, I'm sorry to be blunt) but the show can go on without her. If it's so hard to work and try to put on a good face while she is in the deepest most painful broken grief then why is she there? Go home. Go stay with your mom. Go to a friends. You don't have to go on the Viall Files.
All in all, I felt dirty watching this. It was a private thing. As much as I felt their pain and feel bad for their loss, I lost respect for them for sharing this. It was inappropriate.