It's a girl! Duggars welcome 18th child

[Amelia]

It's a girl! Duggars welcome 18th child

Ever-growing Arkansas family adds a holiday bundle-of-joy to their brood

TODAY staff and wire

Dec. 18, 2008

Michelle Duggar has given birth to her 18th child.

The Arkansas supermom delivered the baby girl by Caesarean section Thursday at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers. The baby, named Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar, weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.

"The ultimate Christmas gift from God," said Jim Bob Duggar, the father of the 18 children. "She's just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters."

The Duggars now have 10 sons and eight daughters.

Jim Bob Duggar said Michelle started having contractions Wednesday night. She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways. Jim Bob said both baby and mother were doing well Thursday night.

"We both would love to have more," he said.

The cable network TLC broadcasts a weekly show about the Duggars, called "Seventeen and Counting." Chris Finnegan of TLC — which handles public relations for the Duggar family — said the show's name would be updated to account for the latest addition to the family. He said TLC also will air a show Monday on the baby's delivery.

Jim Bob Duggar is 43, a year older than his wife. Their oldest child, Joshua, is 20.

"Our whole family is excited about Jordyn's addition to our family," Jim Bob Duggar said. "She's just perfect in every way."

All about family

With the latest addition, the Duggars’ 18 natural children range in age from 20 years to one day old. Included in the mix are 10 boys and now eight girls — Joshua, twins Jana and John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, and Jordyn-Grace.

With two sets of twins, Michelle, has gone through 15 pregnancies that ended in 13 natural deliveries and two Caesarean sections.

Both Michelle and Jim Bob — a former state legislator who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives — are real estate agents. They claim their family is debt-free, with the entire bunch helping to build their 7,000-square-foot home in Tontitown. And they are enriched by a devout faith in their religion.

The Duggars are followers of the evangelical Christian movement called Quiverful, which teaches that children are God’s blessing and that husbands and wives should happily welcome every child they are given. In fact, the Duggars' Web site, duggarfamily.com, quotes “Children are a heritage of the Lord” from verse 3 of the 123rd Psalm.

[Liz]

While I am happy that this latest baby was born healthy, I have mixed emotions about this family.

[Amelia]

I can tell you it's not all puppies and butterflys. One part of my former in laws have 10 children. The kids have paid heavily for their parents need for child after child. Each one has his/her own emotional problems. The eldest daughter got married at 20 and already has 3 boys. Taking after mom.

[Liz]

I can tell you it's not all puppies and butterflys.

You made me spit my coke. ROFL. It almost seems like she is doing it for the show.

Wait....

O.k. I found my shield, now ya'll can throw stuff.

[Woody]

Uhhh. Liz ... You drink Coke? Or did you spit it out as soon as you discovered it was Coke?

[Nan]

Speaking medically - the risks to the mother in pregnancy after pregnancy are significant. One would assume

she will stop getting pregnant some time soon, as nature takes its course. I hope this cessation of fecundity does not happen due to some major medical complication.

I was unaware of this family till fairly recently, and looked them up in the usual way and was quite disgusted at their comments on the marriage of their eldest son. They are looking forward to the blessing of grandchildren. Nothing about the blessings the daughter in law will bring, or what a nice person she is.

I do wonder how an infertile member of such a family would fare.

[Liz]

Uhhh. Liz ... You drink Coke? Or did you spit it out as soon as you discovered it was Coke?

Where I live all soft drinks are referred to as "coke", I was actually drinking a Sprite.

[olger]

What a refreshing story of life. I wish them well.

oG

[Gerr]

Disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's hard enough raising one, how can the parents find quality time for each one?

And I hope he has a good job. How could the average worker possibly educate 18 children?

[Amelia]

Quote:

Web Exclusive

By Eileen Finan

Newsweek

Nov 13, 2006

"Nov. 13, 2006 - It’s hardly a typical scene from the suburbs. The Bortel home outside San Antonio counts 12 members—parents David and Suzanne and their 10 children, ranging from 13 months to 15 (the 20-year-old married and moved away)—all crammed into a four-bedroom house that trembles constantly with activity. Everything revolves around the home: Dad works there, the kids are schooled there, the youngest three were born there. The family uses a 15-passenger van to get around, and at night, the kids climb into multiple sets of bunk beds. David and Suzanne hear the same questions repeatedly. So for the record: No, they’re not Catholic. Yes, they’ve heard of birth control. And no, they’re not crazy. In fact, they’d happily welcome a 12th child. “It’s about obedience to God,” says David, 38. “The Bible says that God is the only opener and closer of the womb.”

The Bortels form part of the “quiverfull” movement, a small but growing conservative Protestant group that eschews all forms of birth control and believes that family planning is exclusively God’s domain. The term derives from Psalm 127:

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

Back in 1995, when the quiverfull.com Web site was founded, it had only 12 subscribers; today, the site, which is administered by the Bortels, has more than 2,600."

[Nan]

Am I wrong then to think God made our brains and expects us to use them

to manage our lives to the best good of all involved?

[Liz]

Am I wrong then to think God made our brains and expects us to use them

to manage our lives to the best good of all involved?

Apparantly, yes, yes you are wrong. According to some websites about the "Quiverfull people" you don't have enough faith in GOD if you do anything that might possibly prevent a pregancy.

It makes me wonder how the parents supports such large families without assistance, or do they get assistance they just keep that part hush hush? Not everyone gets to have a t.v. show and thereby getting things paid for.

[Amelia]

It makes me think of the Mormons and their "if you hear a child crying in heaven it's time to get pregnant" tennant. Former in laws of mine are Mormon and the wife once said that she wished she would quit hearing the babies cry cause she was tired of being pregnant. Sheesh, get a clue.

[Gerr]

If every couple is doing what these people are doing, in a few generations the USA would exceed the population of China and would be forced to implement the same extreme measures they are doing there to control population growth.

[Woody]

The more in the family ... the more of the gross national products that can be produced. Go for it and have fun.