From CNN.com
Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, stars of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting," are expecting their 20th child this spring.
"We are so excited," says Michelle, 45, who is now about three-and-a-half months into her pregnancy and due in April. "I feel good. I am past the sickness stage now."
The Tontitown, Ark., couple, who are parents to children Joshua, 23 (who is married to Anna, 23 and has two children, Mackynzie, 2 and Michael, 4 months), twins Jana and John-David, 21; Jill, 20; Jessa, 19; Jinger, 17; Joseph, 16; Josiah, 15; Joy-Anna, 14; twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 12; Jason, 11; James, 10; Justin, 8; Jackson, 7; Johanna, 6; Jennifer, 4; and Jordyn, 3, weathered the medical emergency of their youngest daughter, Josie's birth on Dec. 10, 2009.
She was born following Michelle's preeclampsia diagnosis at a mere 25 weeks, weighing only 1lb., 6 oz.
Josie's medical drama -- and Michelle's own fight for survival -- was documented throughout their TV series. Josie will turn 2 in December and is developing normally, without any longterm effects from her premature birth.
"It is a miracle. Josie is the most energetic, busy little almost-2-year-old," says Michelle. "She is short, and yet she can keep up with the big girls and she thinks she is just as big as they are. We are amazed at what she can do."
Questions About the Pregnancy
Following Josie's life-threatening arrival into the world, the Duggars understand that some might question their latest pregnancy.
"Michelle is probably in better health now than she was 10 years ago," says Jim Bob, 46. "She has been getting on an elliptical for about an hour a day and is very careful of what she eats."
Michelle, who is under the care of a high-risk pregnancy doctor, says she is being cautious, eating a lot of protein and green vegetables and abstaining from caffeine. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of women have preeclampsia -- Michelle had it with her second pregnancy -- and the condition can strike randomly. Women who have had it previously are at higher risk, however.
"We are just going to do the best we can," says Michelle. "I am taking a nap every day, and we are just taking good care."
Jim Bob agrees: "If we had lived by fear after Michelle had preeclampsia after her second delivery, we would have missed out on all our wonderful blessings," he says. "So many of her pregnancies have gone extremely well."
One completely new aspect of this pregnancy? Michelle will have her very first scheduled Cesarean section since Josie's premature birth required a special cut on the inside of her uterus.
"I've never had a planned C-section," Michelle says. "So this one will be different."
Spreading the News
Also different: how to tell 19 siblings that one more is on the way. Jim Bob gathered all the kids together for a family picture, but instead of telling them to say "cheese," told them to say, "Mom's going to have another baby!"
"The kids were all asking, 'Are you joking or are you serious?' " says Michelle. "It was a big surprise. The little ones started jumping up and down when they realized he was serious."
After hugs and high fives all around, the siblings are now debating the baby's gender and name. The Duggars, who heard the baby's heartbeat in a recent ultrasound, expect to find out whether they are having a boy or girl around Christmas.
The Season 5 finale of "19 Kids and Counting" airs 9 p.m. Tuesday on TLC. The special "Duggars World Tour: Scotland & Ireland," showing a newly pregnant Michelle traveling to Europe with the whole family, premieres November 13, at 8 p.m. on TLC.
Please Jim Bob and Michelle, stop!
You are the most selfish people in the world. If you love kids so much ADOPT! It might actually reduce the abortion rate. It's not fair to make Jinger, Jana, and Jessa to take care of your offspring. My grandmother had to take care of her youngest twin brother and sister, she dropped out of high school and actually had plans to go to beauty school to be a beautician. She always seemed bitter about it
Ah, but you see, they are Christians...and white...and that makes all the difference.
ReplyDeleteAs the oldest of nine and the child of a woman who kept having kids because "babies always love me back", I was taking care of newborns in the middle of the night before I was ten years old.
Yeah, bitter is a good descriptor. I only had one child and my daughter and son-in-law will have none.
There are always repercussions for this kind of selfishness and irresponsibility. Seen and unseen.
self righteous Xtians like Paylin, and Santorum
ReplyDeletewear their large flock of kids like a badge of honor. EVen better if one or more have problems from mom getting pregnant while she's in her mid 40's. That's just brave and being faithful, you betcha!
Also, too, he who, uh never uses birth control or condoms is much more nicer than those awful commie democrats, hippies, communists, and the bad people on the East and West coasts.
Only the 'Rill 'Mericans in the heartland and Alaska know why having 20 kids is important.
Cuz the sky fairy sez so..
there is no sane reason to bear 20 children in this world today. I can't understand how these parents continue popping out babies while our planet is so overpopulated now. Is it the tv ratings? C'mon, how about adoption? Our resources are taxed to the limit...we're running out of time and food and space.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Jim Bob will think it is God's will if he ends up as a widower and his children are motherless with this last high-risk pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, Baby! - but, but, but - that's a woman's lot in life, ain't it, God's Will? And if the 20th child is born severely disabled, same thing.
ReplyDeleteHey Duggars, it's a vagina, not a clown car!
ReplyDeleteThese people have severe mental/emotional problems. Have to. INSANITY. I'm shocked the son who's married with a kid actually wanted kids.
ReplyDeleteAnd if it were not for this TV show, they would be getting food stamps and help from whatever sources they could...and they would have stopped after the 6th child. Selfish is right, and to think, this is what these personhood people are all about...keep having babies the world cannot afford. Do any of these kid go to school? No, Supermom homeschools. And what exactly does Daddy do for a living? It is insane to expect a woman to have 20 plus pregnancies over her lifetime. Insane. When she dies in childbirth, why they then realize that this had nothing to do with God, and everything to do with greed?
ReplyDeleteHamsters have better birth control.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least now she gets a C-Section. That will FINALLY limit her child-bearing, because, I believe there is a limit of 2 or 3 C-Sections that a woman can have.
ReplyDeleteFor those who wonder about what happens if she dies in childbirth: No problem - all the girls have been raised to raise the rest of the brood. Also, too, all the kids are being indoctrinated (errr... schooled) at home. No such thing as birth control in their curriculum. Only submit and conceive.
I feel sorry for this woman who thinks her worth is tied to her uterus. I feel sorry for the children who with each new addition to the family have less personal attention to their needs from their parents, for the children who are made to raise their siblings and are not able to go to public school and experience normal peer relations and friendships. I feel sorry for this family who would be in severe financial straights if it weren't for the voyeuristic proclivities of the American TV viewer for "reality TV".
ReplyDeleteMrs. Dugger reminds me of a neighbor of mine who just loves to be pregnant, but raise her children?, not so much. She even acknowledged that the reason she loves to be pregnant is because of all the personal attention she receives.
They are quiver full believers. This is not a cute family, it's an attempt to populate the world with Believers. Look it up.
ReplyDeleteUgh, her doctor probably has to stick a gigantic cork up her Queen Victoria to keep this one from falling out.
ReplyDeleteWhy TLC and People Magazine keep rewarding these nut jobs with free money and a public platform is beyond me.
The Duggars are nothing more than media whores.
If , instead, they had 20 cats they would be called "hoarders". They are not loving parents. How do they have the time to even get to know the kids? And, what kind loving husband would put his wife's body through a pregnancy EVERY FREAKING YEAR???? They are both sickos.
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was a little unfair that all the kids were named "J" after the, uh...father. Doesn't the mother deserve any "M" namesakes? She's the one doing all the work here!
ReplyDelete