Congratulations go out to Jenelle Evans, as the oft-maligned Teen Mom 2 firebrand gave birth to her third child a few short hours ago.
The Carolina Hurricane and her partner, David Eason, welcomed their first child together at 10:40 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning.
It's a ... precious baby girl named Ensley Jolie Eason!
The proud new mom - already a mom to two sons, Jace, 7, and Kaiser, 2 - shared the exciting news on Instagram right after it happened.
Evans, 25, got pregnant with Jace during her relationship Andrew Lewis, back when she was on a little show entitled 16 & Pregnant.
Lewis has never been in the picture.
Jenelle's mom, Barbara, still has primary custody of Jace, dating back to Evans' darker days - and has been reluctant to give that up.
Kaiser is the product of her relationship with Nathan Griffith; Jenelle was engaged to him at one point, but that ended very contentiously.
She was also briefly married to Courtland Rogers, but that went south so fast that she had an abortion when she realized she was pregnant.
In the case of Eason, and her current relationship with him, Jenelle has been the subject of pregnancy rumors for quite some time now.
If you watch Teen Mom 2 online, including last night's episode, you know she danced around (even tried to hide) the pregnancy for a time.
Jenelle lied about her pregnancy early and often, to be honest.
Before eventually announcing it publicly under unusual, less than ideal circumstances, she attempted to keep the news under wraps.
Of course, being a famous person, and pregnant, that's hard.
When a police report filed after she and David got into a minor car crash eventually let the cat out of the bag, she was not happy about it.
It was pretty clear from watching the show why Evans didn't want to say she was pregnant; Jenelle knew what the critics would say.
The reality star took to social media to share a lengthy post about how her alleged "fans" criticized her for having a third kid by a third guy.
After she'd just been in a car crash, no less.
“I don’t understand what is ‘disappointing’ or ‘sad’?! Why not ask if I’m ok from the car accident?!” Jenelle said on Instagram.
“Why not be concerned about my health?!"
"I want privacy. All of you disgust me. It’s all about gossip these days," she ranted, with some validity given the hate she was catching.
Evans never said that she was pregnant over the course of that social media tirade, but didn't deny it, and the confirmation was implicit.
She noted, for example, that it's "funny" how when "someone else comes out with news they are pregnant and the world is overjoyed.”
The MTV firebrand peaced out of Instagram for a short time before coming back and documenting her third pregnancy for her fans.
Despite their myriad problems, and less-than-stellar reputations, Jenelle and David have seemed extremely happy and stable of late.
He gets along great with her two sons, too.
“Jace absolutely loves him, [he] always wants to be around him,” she said of Eason, who is a single parent of one (daughter) as well.
“He has an 8-year-old daughter that spends the weekends along with Jace, so they get along very well and everyone is really happy.”
All we can do is hope that it lasts.
Evans has made some mistakes - a lifetime's worth, honestly - in the span in which she's been a public figure, a.k.a. her teens and 20s.
But even she should not be burdened by some of the less fortunate events in her past for the rest of her days as a mother and person.
She's genuinely trying to turn things around and to be a better parent. She has earned her share of criticism, but also another chance.
She deserves to find happiness.
Congratulations to Jenelle, David, Jace, Kai, and David's daughter on their beautiful arrival on this special 24th day of January, 2017!
We can't wait for the deluge of pics!
