Yesterday we heard that Josh Duggar, 23, the oldest son of the prolific famous Duggar family, was expecting a son which would be his second child with his wife Anna. Josh has 18 brothers and sisters and co-stars on the Duggar’s reality show on TLC, 19 Kids and County. The big premiere for season five of show aired last night and centered around Josh and Anna finding out that they were expecting a baby boy. The news was delivered to Josh, Anna and all of the Duggar family via skywriting, no kidding, after they asked their doctor to tell Josh’s mom and keep it a secret until they could use it to promote the show.

In an interview with E!, Josh answers the question many of you have been wondering about – just how many kids does he plan on having with his wife? He sort-of says that’s not up to him at all, but he does acknowledge that there are things he can do to prevent pregnancy. He also has some thoughtful things to say about how expensive and difficult large families can be, but it sounds like he wants one anyway.

So what happens after the arrival of baby boy Duggar? Will he be the second child of many to come, or will Anna and Josh stop once they have “one of each”? If nothing else, having kids gets pretty darn expensive!

According to Josh, “‘We’ve decided we’re going to have 25.’ I always say that jokingly, but there’s a lot that goes into a family, and a lot of hard work, and that point often gets overlooked, especially with the harshness the economy is going through now. [The cost of children] is something we think about, but it’s often a sacrifice to be able to raise a child and do it well, whether you have one sacrifice or 19. It’s really not about the number of children you have, but how well are you doing with the children that God has given you. We’re just focusing on Mackenzie right now and this little boy that God has given us. We’re really just going to take it one at a time. I don’t think you can say we’re going to set out and say we’re going to have five kids or four or three. We have no control over that. God has the control. Obviously, we can do things to prevent that, but I’m glad my parents didn’t just settle to have three or four children. There are definitely a lot of advantages to trusting [in God]. Anna’s glad that her parents didn’t stop at four, because she was number five.”

But isn’t there a limit to how many ways you can realistically slice up the family pie? Josh responds that, “I would look at it from the other side: There’s always room for one more. There are arguments on both sides, and obviously we hear them all, and everybody has their own opinion, and that’s something we have to realize every day as well. We’ve been doing this in the public eye for a long time, and you get a lot of scrutiny and a lot of negative comments, but we also hear a lot of positive comments. I think any one of my siblings could attest to the fact that you could say what you want to in a general worldview, but when it comes down the individual child, there’s not any one of my siblings that I wouldn’t want to have in my life. Each person has to make that decision for themselves, but right now we’re in the state where we’ve got a little one that’s under our feet and a little one that’s on the way, but we’re just enjoying the time and the precious moments that we have at this time, and taking each moment as it comes to us.”

[From E! Online]

Under the Duggar evangelical Christian “Quiverfull” belief system parents are supposed to have as many kids as God “wants them to” and not try and prevent pregnancy at all. In Quiverfull, free will doesn’t exist when it comes to fertility.

While my first impression might be that Josh is saying he’s letting God give them as many kids as He/She sees fit, he also seems to acknowledge that it’s complicated and that it’s important to raise children well and focus on the ones you have. It’s hard to tell whether he’s saying that God controls free will when it comes to fertility or simply that there’s no way to control and predict fertility when you want to have children.

I hope for Josh and Anna’s sake they make their own choices and realize at some point that they’re not obligated to have children indiscriminately until Anna is no longer physically able. Josh, Anna and the rest of the Duggars may seem like a huge happy family but that doesn’t mean they’re typical for a Quiverfull family. Many women in the Quiverfull movement lead incredibly difficult lives of poverty and there’s a movement to help them escape and recover from years of oppressive patriarchy and child rearing.

A lot of you may read that title and immediately think that the enormous Duggar family is expanding, and it is but it’s not what you might expect. Anna Duggar is the daughter-in-law of Michelle Duggar, who has had 19 kids and has made it clear that she’s still trying at 44 despite the fact that her last one was born prematurely and both she and the baby nearly died. Michelle hasn’t been successful yet at this point, but Anna, the 22 year-old wife of the Duggar’s oldest son Josh, 23, is expecting her second baby this summer. Anna and Josh first announced the pregnancy in November, and it seems this latest announcement is meant to promote the season 5 premiere of the Duggar family’s TLC reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, which airs tonight.

In a really stupid twist to this story meant to add some plot to their reality show, Anna and Josh let their doctor find out the sex of their baby and instructed him to keep it a secret and to tell Michelle about it. They told Michelle to let them know along with the rest of the family. As sweet as Michelle comes across on the show, this sounds like a political move meant to pacify her so she feels a sense of control when she’s not the one who is pregnant for once. She surely wishes she was. The last time Anna was pregnant, Michelle was pregnant too.

Three months from now, the super-sized Duggar family will add another … boy!

Josh Duggar, 23 – the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle – and his wife Anna, 22, are expecting their second child on June 19 to join older sister Mackynzie, 17 months.

The couple chose an unconventional method for learning the gender of the child – they had Michelle tell them.

“We went to the ultrasound and decided that my mom would know,” Josh tells PEOPLE. “We figured she could handle the secret and then have a surprise sharing of the information with the entire family, including me and Anna.”

They waited more than a week, and it wasn’t easy. “I think Anna was getting a little be anxious and excited to know, kind of antsy,” says Josh. Anna agrees: “We thought it was fun to have the whole family hear at the same time and have the excitement together, but it was hard to wait.”

Josh and Anna are now happily planning a home birth and thinking about boys’ names. Mackynzie had an unplanned home birth, but “it went so well,” says Anna, “that we are glad to be preparing for a home birth this time.”

All 19 children born to Michelle, 43 and Jim Bob, 44 – 10 boys and nine girls – have names beginning with a “J,” so the inevitable question is: Will Josh and Anna follow with an “M” tradition for their children?

“We still have a little time left to decide,” says Josh. “Anna and I will find a good name that will be perfect for this little boy.”

Meanwhile, Anna says her pregnancy is going well and she feels good.

[From People]

Maybe I’ll watch this show tonight and see how Michelle handles the big announcement. I’m sure it’s accompanied by a permagrin and Michelle’s sickeningly sweet voice. I have to admit that this family seems nice despite how strange the rest of us find their situation. From the few clips I’ve seen they come across as way too mellow and happy for a family with that many kids. Now they’re set to have tons of grandchildren and the Duggar genes will explode across the land like so many eerily calm homeschooled viruses.

Photos are of Anna pregnant with her first child. Credit: JA20.com. That domain name is probably for the fact that their daughter is the 20th Duggar.

Let’s just get this out of the way right now – Michelle Duggar is not pregnant, but she did take a pregnancy test on the opening episode this season of 19 Kids & Counting, her reality show on TLC. I guess that means she’s still actively trying to get pregnant, or at least not taking any precautions against pregnancy. Michelle went through a medical crisis last year and nearly died when she went into premature labor with her 19th child. Despite their setbacks and the size of their family, Michelle and her husband Jim-Bob have made it clear that they will have as many children as “God” wants them to have, as if he didn’t give them free will. They plan to grow their child army as large as they possibly can with little regard to Michelle’s health or the health of her babies. On 19 Kids & Counting, Michelle wants to go sky diving with her 18 year old daughter, but takes a pregnancy test first to make sure that she’s not endangering a potential fetus with her reckless behavior. I don’t know where to start with that one:

The season premiere of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting is this Monday, and would you believe, mom-to-19 Michelle Duggar is talking pregnancy in the very first episode of the new season! See, Jessa Duggar is turning 18, and to celebrate her birthday, she’s going skydiving with her mom, but only if Michelle can confirm she is currently not pregnant.

We just chatted exclusively with Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar about the results of that pregnancy test, the skydiving adventure featured in the exclusive season-premiere sneak peek featured above, plus what Duggar family adventures are coming for season five and which of the Duggar kids are about to go to college!

Just so we’re clear, Michelle was not pregnant, so her skydiving date with Jessa was a go! As Michelle recounts the events of the season premiere, “Every since she was little, there was nothing challenging that Jessa would not do, but when everybody was jumping out of the airplane the first time that everybody got to experience it two years previous, Jessa wasn’t old enough to jump. So when she turned 18, I said, ‘Jessa what would you like to do for your birthday?’ and she said, ‘I want to jump out of a plane,’ and I said, ‘Really, that is so neat, because I really wanted to do it too, and I was pregnant at the time, so as long as I’m not pregnant now, I will do it with you!’ “

[From E! Online]

The E! article has more from Jim-Bob and Michelle about how their kids are doing, and what their career aspirations are. One of their daughters is training to be a doula, and two of their sons are EMTs. They say that a few of their kids may get a college level education through a Christian home schooling program called College Plus! Supposedly they offer accredited degrees from home.

The Duggars also live debt free and say “We try to cut corners, and we live debt free.. We do spend about $3,000 a month on food, so that’s a big expense, and as they’re getting older, there’s more expenses for educational opportunities, but we have seen God provide every step of the way for our family.” I’m sure TLC provides a lot of that too. The Duggars do pay personal income taxes from what I can find, but they’ve been able to declare their home a “church” and do not pay property taxes or taxes on any home goods. It saves them some money but it’s not like they’re not paying taxes. It’s not like the public is supporting their huge family, unless you count the fact that we’ve helped make them famous.

CB usually does posts about the Duggars or whatever circus family is the latest hot topic. Personally, I don’t give a sh-t about most of these people who are merely famous for breeding. I don’t think they are “celebrities” – I just think they’re weird and they’re off doing their thing, and I’m weird and I’m off doing my thing, and never the twain shall meet. And for those of you who defend them and their right to have a million children – fine. I’m right there with you. I defend both ends of the spectrum, because I believe in a woman’s right to choose, no matter if that choice is having a dozen children, or having multiple abortions. Choice is choice, and even if someone’s choice in unpalatable to me, I don’t have a say in another woman’s uterus, for better or for worse.

So it is with that introduction, I bring you this news – one of the Duggar women is pregnant again. Thankfully, it’s not Michelle (the matriarch of the brood). It’s Anna Duggar, wife of Josh. Josh and Anna already have one baby – 13 month old Mackynzie.

The oldest member of the 19-child Duggar family is proving that the apple doesn’t fall from the extremely fruitful family tree: On Thursday, Josh Duggar revealed live on TODAY that he and wife Anna are awaiting the arrival of their second child.

“We’re expecting!” a beaming Anna Duggar told Meredith Vieira via satellite from Springdale, Ark., as her battalion of in-laws looked on. Anna said that she and Josh, both 22, found out they’re in a family way on Oct. 8 — a special day for them, as it’s their daughter Mackynzie’s first birthday.

Though Josh was joking when he told Vieira that he and Anna “might be going for 25” children, he does already have a head start on his mom and pop: Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar married in 1984, but didn’t welcome first child Josh into the world until four years later.

Josh and Anna’s second child is due June 19, three months before the couple’s third wedding anniversary.

Joy after heartbreak

That Anna is ready to give the Duggar family a new addition is a special blessing after parental heartbreak: Just months after Mackynzie was born, Anna learned she was pregnant again, only to miscarry. Anna told Vieira she thought long and hard whether to reveal the miscarriage, but decided that talking about it could help others.

“I think a lot of ladies can relate,” she said. “Thirty to 40 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage, but most of the time it happens so early on, you don’t even realize you’re pregnant.”

Devout Christians like all the Duggars, Anna and Josh put their faith in a higher power during troubled times.

“It was hard to go through the excitement to find out we were expecting a little one, and then losing it,” Anna told Vieira. “But one thing that really helped was thanking God; thanking him in the good times and thanking him when things don’t go the way we expected them to.”

Faith and family

Religious beliefs have much to do with the family’s large size. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar practiced birth control early on in their 26-year marriage, and after Josh was born in 1988, they returned to it. But after Michelle suffered a miscarriage, the Duggars vowed to put their faith in God and have as many children as they could be blessed with.

Since then, Michelle Duggar has given the family 19 children through 17 pregnancies (two resulted in pairs of fraternal twins). The last of the 19, little Josie Brooklyn, was born in December 2009 — making her two months younger than her niece Mackynzie!

Speaking with Vieira on TODAY Thursday, Jim Bob Duggar clearly reveled in the news he’s going to be a second-time grandpa. “This doubles our grandchildren — we’re really excited about our new grandchild,” he said.

The gender of Josh and Anna’s second child is not yet known. Jim Bob and Michelle have 10 boys and nine girls; the birth of grandchild Mackynzie evened the gender lineup. Josh Duggar told TODAY his sisters are especially hoping to add a girl to their ranks so that females will assume the majority.

And while Jim Bob and Michelle are welcoming grandchildren, they aren’t ruling out the possibility they may have a 20th child themselves. The couple’s last child, Josie, was born three months premature and weighed only 1 pound, 6 ounces at birth, but is now thriving.

Michelle, 44, addressed the possibility of a 20th child in an interview with Radar Online, saying, “We would love more! I know that my mommy years are probably numbered, and I don’t know how many more children God will see fit to give me.

“That is something that we’ve prayed about and we’ll just see what the Lord has in store for our family in the future.”

[From Today]

Sure. Fine. God bless.

Also – the Duggars are no longer the only ones in QuiverFull famewhore game – The Bates Family of Tennessee is stepping up. Michelle Duggar is going to have a panic attack over this.

Everyone’s favorite delusional creationist baby-maker, Michelle Duggar, punked her family on a recent episode of their delightful reality show. She brought all her kids into the room to announce that “someone’s expecting” with a wicked little twinkle in her eye. Michelle didn’t announce that she was pregnant again with her 20th kid as they were anticipating and broke the news that the wife of a guy who works on their show was going to have her first baby. I’m sure she added “amateur” under her breath. Radar Online has the news along with a video segment:

Michelle Duggar made a bombshell announcement on the latest episode of her show, stunning all 19 of her children as they were gathered together. “Someone’s expecting!” Michelle revealed to the family.

The news that Michelle is pregnant with her 20th child would be a surprise to the family, but not something unexpected. She has spoken out on recent episodes of wanting to have another child if “it is God’s plan.”

“But it’s not us,” she revealed with a big laugh to the family that was quietly standing around her! Michelle announced that Jon Boyle, a production assistant, and his wife were expecting their first child. The family all clapped and cheered, maybe a little relieved that Michelle and Jim Bob weren’t having their 20th child yet.

“I think my family was looking at me like, Mom?” Michelle laughed. She was tickled to tell the news to her family and said “we get thrilled to find out that anyone is expecting, just because we know how special that is.”

The episode also showed that the 19th and tiniest Duggar, Josie, is doing a really well after her return home from her long hospitalization and the older sisters are taking care of her. Josie is off of her oxygen for two hours a day and Michelle says “she’s doing so good. She’s happy not to have that in her nose.” Michelle also said that the littlest little hardly ever cries.

[From Radar Online]

You know Michelle would never make the announcement of her pregnancy just on her own show anyway. She announced her last two pregnancies on the Today Show, and she didn’t even tell her kids ahead of time when she was pregnant with her 18th baby, preferring to let them know live on air (announcement is at 2:30) so we could see their shocked faces. Michelle thought it was funny to punk her kids into thinking she was pregnant again. She’s probably incredibly disappointed that she’s not pregnant considering that it’s been a whole nine months since she had the last one. Given all those poor kids go through caring for their siblings, especially the last one who was born prematurely and almost died, it seems particularly cruel both to joke around that she’s pregnant again and to even consider having more. Michelle is going to keep having as many as “God” “wants” her to even if it kills her, preferring to ignore the fact that she’s burdening her children with adult responsibilities.

What can you say about Michelle Duggar? She seems like she’s happy and relaxed all the time, she squeezes out a kid whenever her body complies, which is surprisingly often, and she wants to have a 20th kid despite her last child’s life-threatening premature birth and that fact that she could have died having her. About a month ago, the Duggars appeared smiling and cradling their 19th child on the cover of People with the title “We’re ready for more.” Now the National Enquirer has a new story saying Michelle would die to have another kid. Even assuming they have no insider information on the Duggars, this is pretty much what they’ve been saying forever – that they want to have another kid and that “God is the one who gives life.” (Their words.) I guess He/She takes it again too, when people use their free will to do dangerous things.

“I WANT another child and I’m not afraid to die to have one!”

That’s what MICHELLE DUGGAR, the mother of 19 children, has told friends and family members about her life-threatening quest for Baby No. 20.

Michelle, 43, developed preeclampsia – or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure – while she was pregnant with No. 19, daughter Josie.

As a result, Josie had to be delivered prematurely on Dec. 10 of last year – at just 25 weeks!

Michelle and her husband Jim Bob, 45, are devout Christians who do not believe in using contraception.

And the stars of TLC’s reality show 19 Kids & Counting want MORE children – even though they know the next pregnancy could kill her, say close pals.

“Michelle said she would gladly give her life to bring another child into the world,” said a source close to the family.

[From The National Enquirer's website thanks Oxa!]

The print edition of the Enquirer has the “if that’s what God wants” quote. Michelle supposedly “told a friend” that “I would like to be around to raise my children and see them grow – but only if that’s what the Lord wants.

“More than anything, Jim Bob and I want to have another child, even though we know that there are substantial risks involved. I know I could have a stroke… or worse.

“But if that’s what God wants, so be it.”

The source goes on to say that “three of her oldest children” are “ready, willing and able to help their dad raise the younger kids if anything happens to her.” As selfless as Michelle tries to portray herself, she’s sure relying on her children to cover for her while she has a ton of kids that she can’t take care of.

Header image credit: TLC

I remember getting the chickenpox when I was four. It itched so bad and my grandma had to come take care of my brother and me as our parents needed to work. There’s a vaccine now but not everyone opts for it (although it’s recommended by the CDC, etc.) since the illness is relatively minor compared to a lot of the other things we get vaccines for. It’s still very uncomfortable and can make you sick as a dog. All of this is an introduction to the fact that the super prolific Duggar family dealt with an outbreak of chickenpox that felled 12 out of the 17 kids then living in their house. The good thing is that premature Josie hadn’t yet left the hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas at that point so the abnormally calm Duggars decided to delay her return home until they recovered.

Here’s the story from Radar, which has the exclusive video of the Duggar kids with chickenpox:

The Duggar family never does anything on a small scale. Jim Bob and Michelle have 19 kids. They have a 7,000 square foot house. And now, 12 of their children have the chicken pox, and RadarOnline.com has the exclusive video clip of the adorable kids suffering from the childhood infection from the next episode of 19 Kids and Counting.

“Johanna broke out with chicken pox a couple weeks ago and now we have 11 more who broke out,” dad Jim Bob says in the video as he leaves a phone message for the doctor.

Jackson, always the family ham, is shown with his little face covered in spots, and one poor kid even has a pox in the eye!

Mom Michelle explained that the timing of the outbreak was right before they were going to bring little baby Josie back home, but they decided she would stay with her in Little Rock until the kids were chicken pox free.

“For the first two years of her life Miss Josie is going to live in a little bubble,” Michelle explained about their 19th child.

Check out the ‘Chicken Pox’ episode of 19 Kids and Counting on TLC on Tuesday, August 24 at 9pm.

[From Radar Online]

If my one kid had chicken pox I would be stressed about it and trying to make sure he was comfortable, but it’s just another day in the Duggar family. Look at that sweet terribly sick-looking kid in the header and tell me you don’t want to get him some juice and a blankie. The mom wasn’t even home to help take care of the kids as she was in Little Rock near her newborn Josie in the hospital, but it’s not like she does a lot of one-on-one nurturing anyway. I doubt that she even came home to make sure everyone was ok. There were five kids left in the house to take care of the other ones, and that works out to about 1 to 2 with some extras left over. I’m sure they made it work. Whenever I watch that show I’m kind of amazed at how chill they all are, but I guess if they seriously cared about major issues like that they would stop popping out kids. Even Josie’s grave medical scare hasn’t deterred them. We’ll see how long Michelle’s fertility holds out. She’s like the conservative Energizer Bunny with a permagrin and vacant stare.

Note – I wanted to bitch that the Duggars don’t pay property taxes after declaring their house a church. That seems to just be heresay, though, as Duggars Without Pity claims they do pay property taxes. They surely get out of other taxes by trying to pass off their family as a religion. It is though in its way.

Thanks to D-Listed for the lead!

The baby collecting Duggars earned the coveted main spot on the cover of People this week, which should have been reserved for America’s (maybe former or tied-for) sweetheart, Julia Roberts. Instead, Roberts got a sidebar when she has her big starring vehicle coming out. (Maybe she didn’t give People an interview, though.) I’m not a huge Julia Roberts fan and find her a tad too full of herself, (although she’s softened in recent years) but she rates over the Duggars. They’re controversial, though, especially when they talk about having more children for their daughters to take care of. The Duggars must sell for People, and I know their posts get a ton of comments here.

Anyway, despite admitting they were wailing and praying to God when their last baby faced health problems after being born prematurely due to 43 year-old Michelle suffering gallstones and preeclampsia, the Duggars are of course giving it another go and letting “God” decide if they’re going to have another kid. The Duggars have said this all along, they said it in their last People interview in May and they said it last Tuesday in an appearance on the Today Show.

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar have always been open about their willingness to have children. But when the devout Baptists and stars of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting faced the catastrophic aftereffects of their 19th child’s premature birth, many assumed they might be done.

But now the couple – who only recently brought baby Josie home after being hospitalized for six months as she recovered from a perforated bowel and rare digestive problems – say they are ready to consider a 20th child.

“Our family is stronger than ever,” Jim Bob, 45, tells PEOPLE in its new issue. “We made it through the storm.”

That’s not to say that everything has been easy with baby Josie. Born early after Michelle developed preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure), Josie was just 8 days old when a perforated bowel threatened her life.

“When she first came home, I couldn’t sleep at all,” says Michelle, 43. “That was the scariest part for me, having the full responsibility of her care on my shoulders … It was intimidating.”

Similarly daunting are the very real medical risks Michelle could face with another pregnancy – particularly a return of preeclampsia, which can lead to a stroke or prove fatal. But despite the risk – and intense criticism – the pair vow to stick to their beliefs.

“People think we are overpopulating the world,” says Jim Bob. “We are following our convictions.”

The Duggars may be “following their convictions,” but that doesn’t mean that they’re not contributing to th overpopulation of the world. They’re doing that through their own family, of course, and also by publicizing their enormous family on their reality show and in these magazine profiles. They’re making it look like a viable option for families that may chose to follow that belief system and have as many kids as humanly possible. In our last story, commenter “Awkward Turtle” posted a link to a site by a divorced mother of seven children and former member of the Quiverfull movement. It’s called “No Longer Quivering” and has some powerful personal stories from women who have suffered while raising large families under a rigid idealogical system. In a profile on Salon.com, the site owner describes how she came to raise her family under Quiverfull’s doctrines, which she eventually rejected. She writes on her site that she “was seriously sucked into a hate-filled worldview and was so committed that I was willing to die for the cause – and now I am equally bold in speaking up to say that the Quiverfull worldview and lifestyle overburdens women, enslaves the daughters and destroys families.” Maybe it only works when you’ve got a passive wife who is willing to do whatever her husband wants, even if that means endangering her own health to bear well over a dozen children.

Thanks to CoverAwards for the People cover.

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The prolific eerily calm Duggar family recently faced their biggest challenge ever. Their 19th child, Josie, was born four and a half months premature last December and weighed just 1lb, 6oz at birth. Josie was in a neonatal care unit for nearly four months, went home for two days, and then had another health crisis that required months more hospitalization. Josie came home last month, and has gained 10 pounds thanks to lactose-free formula. The Duggars have admitted how heart-wrenching and stressful it was to deal with Josie’s condition, but they’ve never ruled out having yet another child and say that’s up to God. (It’s up to them to practice birth control, but that never gets brought up in any of these interviews.) Most of the huge Duggar family was on The Today Show to promote their TLC reality show and premiere their newest baby. Despite the fact that Michelle is 43, could have died during her last pregnancy, and already has 19 kids she’s more than willing to pop out another one. She gave an enthusiastic “yes” to the question of whether they would have another baby. Now that Josie has been home for a month and is out of the woods I guess it’s time to try again. Radar Online has a good recap of the Duggar’s appearance:

“She is doing remarkable,” mom Michelle told host Meredith Vieira, adding that the baby, who was born December 10, 2009, is now up to 11 pounds, 6 ounces.

When Vieira asked about another health roadblock in the baby’s path — she is lactose intolerant — dad Jim Bob said the baby is “doing very well” with a modified diet including lactose-free formula, and “her health is thriving” as a result.

Michelle said that while the child is still using supplemental oxygen, it’s only when she sleeps. Jim Bob said that the baby should be caught up with her peers developmentally by the time she turns 2-years-old.

“Its amazing how well she’s doing, and we’re just so thankful to God that she’s thriving and doing well,” the proud papa said.

The conservative Christian family follows Quiverfull, a movement that places an emphasis on the Bible’s demands to be fruitful and multiply.

When Vieira asked Michelle if the problems with Josie would inhibit her from having more children, Michelle responded: “When we look at Josie — we were just talking about it this morning — knowing how we went through the challenge we did, we would do it again. Here we have this precious gift and its a miracle, it really is… the precious life we see here is not a coincidence.

“Its a miracle,” she said.

[From Radar]

Radar transcribed most of what Michelle said, but they didn’t add the part where she said “God is the one who gives life.” Some people believe that, and it’s fair enough. God is not the one who kept their premature infant alive for months when she was struggling to survive, that’s thanks to the science that these people are definitely not teaching their children. Thank goodness that Josie is thriving and is surrounded by so many people who love her. I’m just kind of flabbergasted that they would feel this way, but I suppose if they ever let reality influence their reproductive decisions they wouldn’t have 19 kids in the first place.

People Magazine has an interview this week with the Duggars, the famous family in Arkansas that stars on a reality show with now their 19 kids. The Duggars have been dealing with so much after their youngest daughter, Josie, was born last September by emergency C-Section at only 25 weeks old and weighing just 1 lb. 6 oz. Little Josie was in the NICU unit in a hospital in Little Rock for four months. She went home briefly in April, only to have to return two days later following a medical crisis. Josie’s youngest sister, Jordyn-Grace Makiya, was also born in December just one year prior.

The Duggars are outspoken about the fact that they don’t use birth control, never will, and will let God decide how many children to give them. In their half hour reality show, which airs on TLC once a week, they are always calm and collected to a degree that can seem delusional. The family is devoutly religious and nothing seems to bother them, but they admitted to People that Josie’s premature birth and medical condition were the hardest thing they’ve ever had to deal with, and that they were fighting, crying and praying that she would pull through.

One thing that really stuck out for me in this story was an anecdote by Michelle about how she tried to assert her authority over a medical test for Josie. She almost convinced her husband and the doctors not to allow a scary MRI for the infant, only to back down and eventually give her approval. Michelle also didn’t rule out another pregnancy, of course, and admitted that she’s not sure if she’s pregnant again. Michelle Duggar is a 43 year old grandmother and has 19 children from the age of five months to 22 years.

Here’s some of what the Duggars told People, and I really feel for them after reading what they’ve been through:

While doctors try to determine why Josie, born three months prematurely, is now struggling to digest normally, the couple are just grateful for their littlest girl’s continued survival. We’ve never walked through anything like this,” Michelle says. Agrees Jim Bob: “the first 72 hours in the NICU rock your world. This is like surviving a hurricane…

This has tested our marriage and family relationships. It tests the foundation of your soul. Our prayer is that we stay close,” Jim Bob says. “We have totally felt overwhelmed – we didn’t know if Josie was going to live or die or what kind of problems she would have. It’s tough to accept all these things.” And under these conditions, even the most serene couple can start to clash. “When you are under pressure, you have the tendency to be quick to anger and become self-centered,” Jim Bob admits. “We try to have a loving response instead of a sharp one.”

But it isn’t always easy. The couple find themselves struggling over how to make the right decision for their baby’s well being – and they don’t always see eye to eye. When Josie was scheduled to have an MRI as part of an optional study, Michelle worried the loudness of the machines would cause her baby further stress. Jim Bob thought the test was a good idea in order to see how Josie’s brain was developing – until Michelle woke up in the middle of the night, panicked and convinced the test should not proceed. “Jim Bob and I talked about it,” Michelle says. “He said we should pray about it, and then it would be up to me.” In the end, Michelle allowed the test – but it was halted when Josie became too upset by the entire process – much as Michelle had feared.

[When Josie had to return to the hospital after her vitals dropped] “I was terrified. I was thinking. ‘My baby is going to die. I am losing her now.’ I held her skin-to-skin in the ambulance, trying to warm her,” says Michele. “I was crying out to the Lord for her life because I didn’t know what was going on.”

After a frantic race back to the hospital, Josie has stabilized, growing to an impressive 6 lb. 9 oz. But complex questions remain about her condition. Unable to normally digest her feedings, Josie needs enemas ever six hours and constant staff assistance. Ligaments that should keep her stomach in place are weak or nonexistent; portions of her intestines are similarly mobile. Doctors next plan on a surgery to repair three hernias; they may also try to anchor certain organs in place…

As for whether Jim Bob and Michelle will continue to procreate… the couple say they are ready and willing to have more kids – perhaps sooner rather than later. “I don’t know… it’s possible,” Michelle says simpley, when asked if she might already be pregnant. As Jim Bob explains, he and Michelle remain ready to face any challenge – including the public criticism that could accompany yet another pregnancy: “We trust God with our lives, our children, our future. Let’s pass this test. Let’s have the right response.”

[From People Magazine, May 31, 2010]

In April, we ran a story in which the mother of a premature baby criticized the Duggars for both allowing cameras around fragile Josie and acting so nonchalant about her condition. In terms of how eerily mellow they are, the Duggars believe that God controls everything, and that He makes the decisions for them. A lot of people feel that way, and while I can’t personally relate I admire how the Duggars go through life without looking like a damn thing stresses them out. Whether that’s ignorant or wiser than the rest of us is a matter of perspective I guess.

They should really give it a rest, though, and realize that it’s not healthy for Michelle or any potential offspring if she continues to have children. Even if God is calling the shots, I don’t get the idea that it’s ok to have as many kids as you want, even if that puts people’s lives at risk. It’s probably all in the Bible, right? I never could figure that thing out. Maybe it’s easier when you pick and chose passages to take at face value. At least Josie is hanging in there and we hope that things look up for that little one soon. She certainly has plenty of people who love her and are pulling for her.