“To think back on the last 48 hours, I could just scream. The hurt, the sadness, the pain, the questioning, and for what?” Melinda Stolp wrote to begin a heartbreaking announcement. The 37-year-old mother, who competed on multiple seasons of The Challenge, learned that she had suffered a miscarriage three and a half weeks before sharing the news on March 24.
“4 weeks ago I had a checkup and she [Melinda and husband Matt Collins‘ daughter] had a strong heart and everything was going along fine,” Melinda, who was five months pregnant when she lost her baby, explained in the Instagram post. She continued, “Over the next couple of weeks, I had started noticing that I wasn’t feeling her move as much, but I kept chasing away those worries.”
Melinda then revealed that she discovered their second child “was gone” after attending her 20-week anatomy ultrasound. The MTV alum wrote that “no woman” or man should “have to go through this pain,” which for Melissa, didn’t end when she learned the awful news. The Challenge star still had to deliver her baby.
However, Melinda still cherished the fact that she and her husband are already the parents of their one-year-old son, Camden. “I have had the opportunity to have three pregnancies. Luckily one of those produced a beautiful healthy baby, who truly is the light of our lives,” she wrote.
Melinda Stolp with her son, Camden, and husband Matt Collins. [Instagram/@melindastolpmtv]
The grieving mother also pointed out how common miscarriages really are. “When looking at statistics, women lose 1 in 5 pregnancies. That number is astounding to me. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke, I don’t do any drugs, I’m active, I took my vitamins, drank my water, talked to her, had little stress, laughed a lot, took walks cut out caffeine… and still none of that worked,” Melina wrote in her announcement, which you can read in full above.
The Challenge announced her pregnancy in Feb. 2021. At the time, Melinda shared the news with an ultrasound photo and revealed the baby was expected to arrive in Aug. 2021.
Like Melinda pointed out, many women have sadly suffered miscarriages — celebrities as well. Meghan Markle, Chrissy Teigen, Carrie Underwood, Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow and many more stars have been open about their pregnancy losses, so Melinda is very much not alone. We send our condolences to Melinda and her family.