Proud parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar premiered their 19th baby, little premature Josie, in a series of photos given to news outlets. They also appeared on the Today Show yesterday to talk about Josie’s struggle. The Duggars are the stars of the recently retitled reality show 19 Kids and Counting, which airs weekly on the TLC network. The episode on Josie’s dramatic delivery will be shown on January 31, with the new season premiering on February 2.

Josie was born four and a half months early, on December 10 of last year after Michelle suffered from a gallstone attack and preeclampsia. She weighed just 1 lb. 6 oz. at birth, is now up to 2 lb. 4 oz and recently went off a ventilator. According to Jim Bob and Michelle, their youngest daughter is doing well at seven weeks, but they say they’re taking it “one day at a time” and call her survival was a “miracle.” The family has moved temporarily from Tonitown, Arkansas to Little Rock, where Josie is staying in a neonatal care unit.

Seven weeks after baby Josie’s surprise early arrival, her relieved parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are talking to PEOPLE about the tiny micropreemie, who is taking breast milk through a tube and weighs 2 lbs. 3 oz.

Born at 25 weeks to Jim Bob and Michelle, of the hit TLC reality series changing its name this week to 19 Kids and Counting, little Josie Brooklyn was a mere 1 lb. 6 oz. when she arrived Dec. 10, after Michelle was diagnosed with preeclampsia.

“Years ago, a baby this small wouldn’t have lived an hour,” says Jim Bob, 44. “We are so grateful for the ability to help her.”

He and Michelle, 43, have moved 17 of their other kids (their oldest Josh, 21, and his wife, Anna, 21, have a baby girl and live on their own) to Little Rock, Ark. from their home in Tontitown, Ark., to be closer to Josie, who remains in intensive care at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

“It’s a miracle she’s doing so well,” says Jim Bob. Agrees Michelle: “It is incredible what the doctors and nurses can do to save the life of this little person.”

It has been an up and down saga of survival for tiny Josie. “Doctors tell us, ‘never trust a preemie,’ because you can’t know what is going to happen,” says Jim Bob. “It is a very day-to-day thing. It is the hardest thing we’ve ever been through.”

Josie’s difficult birth has brought the family closer together, say Jim Bob and Michelle, and they continue to be grateful for every moment they have with their new daughter.

“We don’t know if there is going to be another big hill to go up,” she says. “We are grateful for the wonderful days when she has been good. We know at any moment, things could change.”

[From People]

A lot of people bash this family for having so many children. If you watch their show it’s clear that they love them all and that they have a very well run household. Thank goodness that Josie is doing well and you can tell that her family loves her and is pulling for her. This begs the question, though, will the Duggars rethink their lack of family planning after this last very difficult birth?

Some details via E! Online and Yahoo!. Photos thanks to TLC

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Reality star Michelle Duggar is out of the hospital after having an emergency c-section less than two weeks ago to save her premature 19th child. (Little Josie Duggar, who was just 1 lb., 6 oz. at birth is still in the hospital but is stable and taking breastmilk.) Michelle was spotted at a public meeting for her local Alcoholic Beverage Control board spreading her puritanical wrath. Michelle and her husband, Bob, objected to a proposed beer license for a gas station in their small town of Springdale, Arkansas. According to local reports, Michelle was crying at the board meeting over the fact that some booze might invade her town. The beer permit for the EZ-Mart was denied, but they’ll probably continue to do decent business in gas since residents will have to go out of town to get their buzz on.

Controversy looms over the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s decision to deny a beer permit for a local gas station.

The board denied the request Wednesday for the EZ Mart on Sunset Avenue in Springdale.

And for some in the area, it comes as a shock. EZ Mart thought it would get the go-ahead.

Employees at the store said initially, no public officials had objected to their request, until yesterday, when a surprise guest came into the ABC board’s meeting to testify.

“I was told the Duggars were there protesting it, and that Mrs. Duggar was up there crying. And she said that she didn’t want alcohol in her neighborhood or her town, so we got turned down for it,” said assistant manager Tomie Labeff.

Labeff said she and others were more than certain that EZ Mart would be selling beer.

“I was told the mayor wasn’t contesting it, so we were told by our general manager that we were going to get it for sure, but we were told no,” said Labeff.
40/29 News spoke to Michelle Duggar on the phone, and she said alcohol in convenience stores would bring children closer to it.

“Personally, I don’t think alcohol needs to be convenient. I think it needs to be placed in a place where adults can get to it and they will have a choice to get it. But our children should not be bombarded with that. It’s so close to home,” said Duggar.

For some, it’s a let down.

“I’m kind of upset about the situation because I feel that it would be convenient to my house. I could just walk down the street instead of having to drive my car,” said Jeremy Bara.

Although that convenience store was turned down, several others in the area got the green light — including the Murphy Express on Wedington Drive in Fayetteville, where construction at the site isn’t even fully completed.

[From 4029tv.com via Radar Online]

I never understood the concept of a “dry town” or “dry county.” We had a dry town next to the one I grew up in and the people who lived there just had to do a little more planning to get their beer. Studies have shown that dry municipalities can actually be more dangerous as people are getting drunk further away from home and then driving to get back. Drunk drivers on the road are more dangerous to kids than seeing some beer at the gas station. It’s not like they’re selling it to kids under 21. Michelle Duggar isn’t known for her excellent deductive reasoning skills. She is a model of serenity and patience, although that doesn’t seem to include much tolerance of others.

Header is of Michelle Duggar and then also-pregnant daughter-in-law. All photos credit: TLC

The youngest child in the huge Duggar family, Josie Brooklyn Duggar, was born by emergency C-section last week after mom Michelle, 43, suffered an attack of gallstonescoupled with pre-eclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy. Little Josie was just 1 lb., 6 oz. at birth and faced an uphill battle. There’s news from the family that their youngest is stable in the hospital and that she’s able to take breastmilk, which should improve her chances.

The Duggar family’s 19th child, Josie Brooklyn, who was born nearly three months premature weighing less than 2 pounds, is giving her famous family something to smile about these days: She’s taking breast milk.

Reality TV mom Michelle Duggar has given birth to a premature girl.

Freda Ruark, sister of mom Michelle Duggar, said that after three breast milk feedings, Josie Brooklyn was able to keep down two.

“The baby is doing great,” said Ruark, who has spoken to her sister and her sister’s husband, Jim Bob, every day since her niece was born.

“Josie is holding her own. As long as she can get some of that breast milk, that will help build up her immune system.”

Jim Bob Duggar sent an e-mail to ABCNews.com earlier today about his wife’s and daughter’s condition. “Hello from the Duggar Family,” he wrote. “We are so grateful for all of the prayers and emails of support for our family since Josie Brooklyn Duggar was born 12-10-09. Michelle is [recovering] from the emergency c-section and is doing [a lot] better. Josie is beautiful and in stable condition.”

Ruark said she expects Michelle to stay in the hospital “for a while.”

Back home, her other 18 children are “doing quite well” with the help of their grandmother, Jim Bob’s mother, Mary, who lives with them. “They have lots of help,” Ruark said, “and a big circle of friends. I’m sure they want mom home but the family just takes care of things.”

Ruark said some of the older children were on a mission in El Salvador — a trip family members have taken for about four years in a row — when Josie Brooklyn was born. Their family insisted they finish the mission but they kept in touch by calling every day.

Now they all await the day their new sister can come home. Until then, however, they can keep a watch on Josie Brooklyn through the hospital’s high-tech monitoring system.

Each bassinet in the neonatal intensive care unit of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital is equipped with “angel-eye cameras,” according to the hospital spokeswoman, which allows family, via a password, to view the baby from their home computers.

[From ABC News via ET Online]

The little baby’s middle name is Brooklyn. That’s a strange choice. All their other children have common and/or biblical middle names like “Samuel,” “Levi,” “Andrew” and “Robert.” Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Josie Brooklyn continues to thrive and grow and will be able to go home to her family soon.

ABC News has some blunt advice for the Duggars from several obstetricians, who warn about the risks associated with multiple pregnancies and advanced maternal age. They mention conditions that can develop both before and after pregnancy like uterine atony, or failure of the uterine to contract after labor causing extensive bleeding, placenta previa, or attachment of the placenta over the cervix, also causing bleeding and affecting the baby, uterine prolapse and incontinence. It all sounds kind of scary but given have many kids the Duggars have, along with their stance against opting for genetic testing, they probably won’t pay it much mind. Maybe Michelle’s fertility will finally taper off as she hits her mid 40s. It seems kind of amazing that this is the first medical issue she’s had in all of her pregnancies.

The prolific Duggar family are the stars of TLC’s weekly reality show “18 Kids and Counting.” The Duggars believe that children are a gift from God and use no form of birth control. They seek medical treatment and prenatal care but opt out of genetic testing, as is recommended for pregnant women over 35. All of their children have names that start with “J” and all of them are homeschooled under a Christian conservative curriculum that teaches creationism. The Duggars have no debt and raise their children under a “buddy system” in which an older child is assigned to watch out for a younger one once they’re weaned from nursing.

Mom Michelle Duggar, 43, had to be airlifted to an Arkansas hospital over the weekend when she was experiencing early contractions. She had a gallstone that needed to be removed and was reportedly fine afterwards, but was kept in the hospital for observation. It’s a good thing that they kept her there because she needed an emergency c-section. The baby wasn’t due until the spring and is at least a few months early. Little girl “Josie” was delivered yesterday and weighed just 1 lb., 6 oz.

She arrived earlier than expected, but the 19th Duggar baby is here!

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar welcomed daughter Josie Brooklyn, weighing 1 lb., 6 oz., at 6:27 p.m. Thursday, at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas.

Michelle, who has been in the hospital recovering from a gallstone, was taken to the OR for an emergency C-section. She is resting comfortably and the baby is stable and in the NICU for extended care, a rep for the network tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“The most important thing right now is for mom and baby Josie to get as much rest as possible,” reads the statement to PEOPLE. “The family is grateful for all the prayers and well wishes during their recovery.”

[From People]

From what I understand Michelle has had only one other c-section in her many pregnancies. I couldn’t confirm that with a link, but I remember her saying it on one of the shows I watched and she was a big proponent of VBAC, or vaginal birth after cesarean. She has one set of twins so that could have been the other c-section. The woman should take a hint, though, and stop getting pregnant after this one. (Update: Ana points out that this is Michelle’s fourth c-section. I must have seen the show several pregnancies ago.)

I’ve seen their show and they do seem to be great parents. They’re very calm and loving with their kids and they have a whole system down so that everything moves smoothly in their house. You wonder how much they’re addicted to having more kids though and if they’ll be able to cope without a new addition every year or so. That said, I hope that the baby is fine and that Michelle is ok. 1lb, 6oz is very small but they have excellent neonatal care. Now that the 19th one was born will they change the name of their show?

Update: a lot of you are saying that the baby will face an uphill battle at that tiny size and that it’s too early to tell how she will turn out.

Photos courtesy of TLC

Michelle Duggar, 43, the matriarch on TLC’s weekly reality show “18 Kids and Counting,” is currently pregnant with her 19th child due this spring. She was airlifted to an Arkansas hospital this weekend after a medical scare in which she was experiencing pain and early contractions. It turned out that she just had gallstones and that the baby was fine. She was kept in the hospital for observation, though:

The pregnant 18 Kids and Counting mom, whose 19th child is due this spring, was rushed to an Arkansas hospital over the weekend after experiencing contractions—which, as it turned out, were triggered by a gallstone.

“The pain from a gallstone was generating some contractions,” read a statement released Monday by TLC. “Just to be safe, she was airlifted [to] a Little Rock, Ark., hospital, so that in the unlikely event that she had to be delivered early, she would be close to a NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] center. Though there were some fears that the baby was in trouble initially, it soon was discovered to be solely the gallstone causing the discomfort. Michelle is resting comfortably, and the baby is doing
fine.”

The 43-year-old wife, mom and grandma is still in the hospital under observation, just to be safe.

[From E! Online]

It’s not surprising that Michelle also happens to be pregnant while she’s having a medical issue. She’s been pregnant more than half her adult life.

I hope that everything is ok with Michelle and that the baby turns out fine. Honestly I don’t know I feel about these people, though. I understand the criticism that they’re irresponsibly promoting huge families and overpopulating the planet. They seem so harmless and kind in interviews though and I’ve often marveled at how content they are. It’s like their lives should be a logistical nightmare but somehow they’re always chill and happy. While I was wondering whether I’m pro-Duggar or not I watched an episode of their show on YouTube, below, which aired in June, 2009. The family goes skating at an indoor rink for one of the kids’ birthdays and it all goes off without a hitch. The main conflict involves convincing one of the teenage girls and their grandmother to skate. After watching it, I’m warming up to the Duggars. Say what you will about their massive environmental impact and anti-Science Christian conservative home schooling, they’re definitely happy. That said, is it so wrong that I want to see some kind of cheating scandal with this family?

18 Kids and Counting: Duggars On Wheels Part 1

18 Kids and Counting: Duggars On Wheels Part 2 (Note: they sing an alternate Jesus-y “Happy Birthday” here, but that may be due to copyright issues with the actual “Happy Birthday” song.)

The first granddaughter from the infamous 20-strong Duggar family made her premiere on the Today Show Monday morning. Little Mackenzie Duggar is the daughter of the oldest Duggar child, Joshua James, 21, and his new wife Anna Renée Duggar, also 21. The Today Show had some clips from the Duggar’s reality show on TLC, “18 Kids and Counting,” and it looks like a censored version of Anna’s well-attended labor and birth will be aired on their show. Unnaturally perky mom Michelle Duggar, who is currently pregnant with her 19th child, explained to Meredith Vieira that she made it to Texas from Arkansas with one of her oldest daughters Jill, 18, about 20 minutes before the birth of her grandchild. I don’t know about you, but there is no way I would have let a bunch of family members, not to mention a camera crew, in the birthing room with me. That was reserved for just the professionals and my husband, but to each their own. Anna had a natural home birth. Michelle said she did a “wonderful job” and she should know. New dad Josh, who was there to catch the baby as she was born, called the experience “awesome” several times.

Josh and Anna will continue the tradition of naming all their children with the same first letter (all the Duggar children have names that start with “J”) and joked to Meredith that they would name one of their babies after her.

Josh and Anna revealed a few months ago that they’re not hoping for a huge family and would be happy with just a few children. It still sounds like they’re leaving it up to chance, though. “We’d be happy with two or three; I think children are a blessing, though,” he said. “So we’re just thankful for the one that God has given us, and we’ll take ’em one at a time.” Anna comes from a family with seven siblings, which is still quite large but considerably smaller than Josh’s family.

Say what you will about the Duggars, they all seem incredibly happy and well adjusted. I want to say that I sense some competition between Michelle and Anna, but maybe that’s the pessimist in me coming out. There’s no way Anna can ever compete with her mother in law. No one will ever be as super nice or as fertile as Michelle Duggar. Is it wrong of me to hope for some family conflict?

The Duggar family welcomed the first of their next generation, grandchild Mackynzie Renée Duggar, yesterday. She was born to oldest Duggar child Josh, 21, and his wife Anna. They were married in September 2008. People points out that although Mackynzie is Josh and Anna’s first child, Josh obviously has a ton of childcare experience, having helped raise his 17 younger siblings. I bet he’s really excited for more diaper duty. People’s interview with Josh is very sweet, and it sounds like he was very involved and attentive during Anna’s pregnancy.

There’s doting – and then there’s Duggar doting.

Mackynzie Renée Duggar is in for an avalanche of family attention: She’s not only the first grandchild in the reality TV clan, but she already has 17 aunts and uncles, plus one more on the way, since her grandparents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are expecting their 19th child in the spring.

Mackynzie was born at the home of her parents, Joshua and Anna, with a midwife and doula attending the birth. “Josh was excited to participate in the birth as well,” says a family friend. “They are both so happy.”

Josh has been front and center in his wife’s first pregnancy – telling her the news that she was pregnant after she was too nervous to look at her own pregnancy test, and reading and singing to his daughter before she was born.

“I ask Anna what she needs,” Josh told PEOPLE in July. “I talk to the baby and we involve her in our conversations. When Anna and I are talking to each other, we’ll say, ‘So, how do you like that, Mackynzie?’ ”

Although Mackynzie is his first child, Josh knows all about raising babies. He’s the oldest child of Jim Bob and MIchelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark., who went on to have twins Jana and John-David, 19; Jill, 18; Jessa, 16; Jinger, 15; Joseph, 14; Josiah, 13; Joy-Anna, 11; twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 10; Jason, 9; James, 8; Justin, 6; Jackson, 5; Johanna, 3; Jennifer, 2 and Jordyn-Grace, 9 months.

The newest Duggar’s name came from a combination Josh’s cousin’s name (Mackynzie) and Anna’s middle name (Renée), but the couple hasn’t completely committed to “M” being the letter to begin all their children’s names. The Duggars famously have chosen “J” names for all their children.

[From People]

Mackynzie is absolutely adorable, by the way (pictures are on People’s site). I know we’re supposed to say that about all babies, but let’s be honest; some newborns look a little “angry Shar-Pei” like. I’m not one to talk, as I was bright yellow, had no eyebrows or eyelashes (I was a little ahead of schedule) and everyone kept calling me “he.” But Mackynzie has done justice to cute new babies. She has really fully, pretty lips too – I can’t help but wonder if People applied some lip gloss or something before the photogs went to town.

Even though Mackynzie will be the oldest in her immediate family, she’s already got a built-in network of playmates with all those aunts and uncles within a few years of her age. They’ll probably be more like cousins. I can’t help but wonder if Josh and Anna are going to go for a lot of kids too. Something tells me they’ll probably have more than the average family, but won’t try to break any Guinness records or anything. Maybe 5 or 6 kids. Congrats to the new parents!

Photos from TLC. Header photo of pregnant Michelle and Jim Bob with then-pregnant daughter-in-law Anna and son Josh.

Last year, before the Duggars welcomed their whopping 18th child, they revealed that they work at their relationship and basically said they have an active sex life. They’re obviously getting up to something given how many kids they have. Jim Bob Duggar revealed his secrets to a happy marriage to People.com yesterday, and he wasn’t as explicit as he was last year, saying that they make time for each other, try to compliment each other when they can and are humble and forgiving. Among Jim Bob’s recommendations for married couple with children is that they have a weekly date. That’s probably a little easier to manage when you have older kids who can babysit for you.

Jon and Kate Gosselin’s marriage cracked under the stress of raising eight kids and differing priorities, but fellow reality TV star – and father of 18 – Jim Bob Duggar wants people to understand there can still be happiness in a marriage no matter how many kids are around.

“One of our goals is to encourage other families and parents that their marriage can be strong even if they have kids,” says Jim Bob, 44, whose wife, Michelle, 42, is pregnant with their 19th child.

The couple, who live in Tontitown, Ark., credit a few key relationship rules with keeping love in their marriage.

First priority: Making time for each other.

“We have a weekly date, even if it is just to take a walk in the park,” says Jim Bob. “We will go out to lunch or dinner and talk together about the kids, upcoming events, what we have coming up.”

While every couple has disagreements, he and Michelle try to look for the good in each other rather than being critical. “It is easy to think of the things that are bothering you more often than the things that are wonderful,” Jim Bob says. “It’s important to remember those things about your spouse and think about those things. A great rule of thumb is to say 10 nice things to every one critical thing.”

Forgiveness, he says, is also essential.

“We asked an Amish couple we met who had been married 50 years what the most important thing to know about marriage was,” says Jim Bob. “And, they told us, the most important thing to say is, ‘I was wrong and will you please forgive me.’ Each one of us tries to humble ourselves before the other and be willing to admit mistakes.”

Of course, raising kids adds a separate set of challenges to a relationship. “I never had an anger problem until I had kids,” Jim Bob says laughing, adding that staying level-headed is good for both the parents and the children. “Michelle has the best example of having a soft response and showing that to the kids,” he says. “I ask them to point out to me if I’m losing my temper.”

But as anyone who has seen the Duggars on 18 Kids and Counting (Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on TLC) knows, their home is mostly filled with praise and encouragement for mom, dad, and all those kids.

“We have purposed to compliment our children – we do that on outward beauty and what is wonderful about them inside. And we do that with each other as well.”

The Duggars have written a book about their experiences with raising children, living debt free and homeschooling, The Duggars: 20 and Counting!: Raising One of America’s Largest Families–How they Do It

[From People]

Michelle Duggar has a new interview with People in which she reveals the schedule that she follows with her children. While my first response to this story about the “weekly date” would have been to question how much time she has for her kids, I’m reminded that she home schools so the kids get time with her every day. It sounds like they also have a family meeting at the end of the day in which everyone gets a turn to talk:

So what is a typical day like for mom, dad, Jana and John-David, 19; Jill, 18; Jessa, 16; Jinger, 15; Joseph, 14; Josiah, 13; Joy-Anna, 11; twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 10; Jason, 9; James, 8; Justin, 6; Jackson, 5; Johanna, 3; Jennifer, 2, and Jordyn-Grace, 8 months? (Oldest son Joshua, 21, lives with his wife Anna, also 21.)

Michelle, 42, shares their schedule with PEOPLE:

7 a.m.: Everyone gets up, gets dressed, brushes their teeth and washes up for breakfast. The older children help their “buddy” – the younger child they are responsible for – get ready.

8 a.m.: Family breakfast. Each week, they go through seven gallons of milk, 15 dozen eggs and 15 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios. After reading from the Bible, they do a “quick clean” of the house, with “everyone scurrying to do their chore,” Michelle says.

9 a.m.: School, taught by mom, starts around the dining table. All of the children work at their own level for phonics and math. The older children also devote time to music – all Dugger kids learn violin and piano – and individual studies in math, English, spelling and typing.

12 p.m.: Lunch break. The family shops for bulk items once a month, and fresh fruit and vegetables every few days. “Usually, we are in the produce section buying huge quantities of apples, oranges, bananas, lettuce, carrots and things like that,” Michelle says. They often fill six or seven grocery carts per trip to the store. Monthly budget for groceries and household items: $3,000.

1:30 p.m.: The youngest kids go down for nap.

2 p.m.: Michelle and the older children reconvene for lessons in science, history, law and medicine.

4 p.m.: Individual studies for the older children and free time.

5 p.m.: Dinner. Afterward, another “quick clean” of the house, followed by free time.

8 p.m.: Snack time, then group Bible study. The family also goes around the room to talk about what is going on in each child’s life and day.

8:30 p.m.: Bedtimes begin.

[From People]

Their family wouldn’t work if they didn’t have some kind of system guiding everything. Do you think that Jim Bob and Michelle would have just as easily dealt with six kids all at once like the Gosselins? They did have most of them very close together so I guess it’s not all that different. At least we know that, unlike the plastic surgery-loving free-spending Gosselins, the Duggars are semi-immune to the trappings of fame. It’s not like we’re going to be hearing them trashing each other through the press in a couple of years. If they do have any problems I suspect they’ll keep it all under wraps. Can you imagine seeing their faces on the tabloids week after week like the Gosselins?

A friend of mine once told me he was in the “Zero Population Growth” movement, which believes that it’s our environmental duty not to have biological children. I’d never heard of that before he told me about it and thought that it wouldn’t deter me from having one or two children, but I didn’t tell him that and just said “mmhmm.” (He was married and it wasn’t like he was trying to tell me on a date that he wasn’t into having kids.) Later I took a sustainable living course and we had a unit on this issue. The chapters were essays by different environmental experts, and the consensus on children was that if you had one or two kids and raised them to be environmentally conscious you weren’t necessarily negatively affecting the environment.

The Duggar Family, with their soon-to-be 19 kids, are another matter. They have more children than handfuls of average families put together, and the environmental impact of all those children is something that many people consider to be a serious offense. E! Online has some more on the Duggar’s huge footprint, along with how much they’re likely to make for their TLC reality show per week – an estimated $25,000 to $75,000. E! kind of glosses over the environmental issue as it relates to the Duggar’s anti-science anti-evolution belief system. This is an argument I’ve heard before about the Duggars, though, and one that isn’t always presented nicely. Some say that statistically half of their 18 kids wouldn’t be living without the advances of modern science they seem to so readily dismiss:

How much do the Duggars get for their reality show? For me, the show is like an accident—you just have to look.
—Nicole_Tafoya, via Twitter

An “accident”? How cruel! Children are a gift from God! Right now, those 18 kids—soon to be 19—are blessing the planet with an estimated 1.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide as an environmental legacy! And just in case you need help with your science homework, every one of those little angels stands ready to explain how evolution is a lie. You’re just mean.

As for how much the Duggars are making off TLC network via their show, 18 Kids and Counting, well, hold on to your Bibles…

Networks usually won’t disclose the deals they make with individual families. But according to reality producer Terence Michael, the general rule of thumb is that reality-show families earn about 10 percent of a show’s per-episode budget. So, if TLC budgets about $250,000 to $400,000 per episode—and Michael suspects it does—that would mean $25,000 to $40,000 in the Duggars’ pockets for four or five days’ work, which is roughly how long it takes to film a typical episode.

If the 18 Kids and Counting show grows even more popular, the Duggars’ pay goes up as the show’s budget rises. The show budget for the Gosselins is reported to be much higher, with some reports estimating that those Plus Eight people rake in $75,000 per episode.

Bonus nugget: Does that mean that the Ace of Cakes dude makes the same kind of money? Not likely.

“If it’s thought that a show is going to bring in more money for the business it’s featuring, the producers get away with paying the star a lot less,” says Michael, currently producing a reality show about Motocross champ James Stewart Jr. and family. “More like 5 percent of the per-episode budget.”

For the record, the Duggars also make money from their commercial investments. But having your own orchestra made up entirely of your own children? Priceless.

[From E! Online]

While I was doing some minimal research for this story, I found an article on Newsweek about the Quiverfull movement that the Duggars follow, which teaches that children are a gift from God and that family planning should be left to Him. Having as many children as possible is viewed as a way to ensure entry into Heaven, with some pro-Quiverfull texts making it sound as if they’re preparing Christian child armies. One author is quoted as writing “Oh what a vision, to invade the earth with mighty sons and daughters who have been trained and prepared for God’s divine purposes.” The movement is said to be demeaning to women, who are left to care for ever-increasing numbers of children, typically under much more meager circumstances than the Duggars. The Duggar family is presenting a happy, financially secure face to Quiverfull, but the reality is much starker for other huge families that follow this philosophy. Are the Duggars irresponsibly populating the overextended earth or is it ok because they have the means to support their family? Some would argue that their environmental impact goes much beyond the 18 children they’ve brought into the world, since they’re making it look deceptively easy to raise huge families. In their case it’s been financially beneficial too.

Photos from TLC. Michelle Duggar is shown next to her also-pregnant daughter-in-law.

I feel like I’ve already written this story and all I need to do is change the names and dates. The famous Duggar family of Arkansas, which has ten sons and eight daughters ranging in age from 8 and a half months to 21 years – all with names that start with the letter J, some more obnoxious than others – have announced that their Pollyanna-ish hyper-fertile mom, Michelle Duggar, is expecting her whopping 19th child. The Duggars shot to fame years ago with documentary style specials on Discovery Health channel highlighting their huge family and devout Baptist lifestyle. They now have a weekly TLC reality show that focuses on how they run their household with the help of strict schedules and a “buddy system” which assigns another sibling to take care of the new family members starting at six months of age.

The Duggars announced their pregnancy via satellite on The Today Show. They’re also expecting their first grandchild. Their 21 year-old son, Josh, is expecting his first child with his new wife next month.

Michelle, 42, told People Magazine that she doesn’t have prenatal testing done at all despite her age. She says that’s all up to the Lord and they’ll take whatever comes:

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark., who have 18 children and one grandchild on the way, are expecting a new addition to their household – baby No. 19 will arrive in the spring.

“We are so thrilled,” says Michelle, 42. “We just couldn’t believe it is happening.” Jim Bob, 44, agrees: “This never gets old. We are so grateful for each child. We are looking forward to our first grand baby and our 19th child.”

Oldest son Joshua, 21 and his wife Anna, 21, are expecting daughter Mackynzie Renée next month, so she will be older than her new aunt or uncle.

“I think it is going to be awesome, it is going to be great,” says Josh about the news that his parents are expecting. “We have been looking forward to the arrival of my little girl and to now get to celebrate for my parents, it’s a wonderful thing.”

Another Fun Pregnancy
The families often get to see one another and are looking forward to the babies’ births.

“I love all of this, it is so fun,” says Michelle. “Anna and I will have babies five months apart. My mother and my sister were pregnant at the same time and it was really wonderful. The kids were really close and still are. I have a nephew who grew up with me, we’re just three months apart.”

The Duggars live debt-free in a house they built themselves with their kids, all whose names begin with J: after Josh there are twins Jana and John-David, 19; Jill, 18; Jessa, 16; Jinger, 15; Joseph, 14; Josiah, 13; Joy-Anna, 11; twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 10; Jason, 9; James, 8; Justin, 6; Jackson, 5; Johanna, 3; Jennifer, 2, and Jordyn-Grace, 8 months. Their lives are featured on TLC’s 18 Kids and Counting, airing Tuesday nights…

Michelle says that since she was 36 years old, her doctor has given her and Jim Bob pamphlets about prenatal testing since there is an increase of risk of health problems in babies with older mothers. But, she says they don’t worry about those risks and don’t take the tests.

“We know what could happen,” she says. “We read through the information. If the Lord chooses to give us challenges along the way, we know His grace will be there, so we don’t opt to do the testing.”

As far as her own health, her doctor told PEOPLE when her last child was born that Michelle’s health was excellent: “Some women are made to have babies, and Michelle is to the nth degree,” ob-gyn Amy Sarver told PEOPLE in December. “She is in terrific health without any strain on her uterus.”

Michelle says she’s just glad for every day that she gets to enjoy being with her kids, even as she endures a 19th round of morning sickness.

[From People]

Whenever I see this family they look super-happy, really perky and just grateful to have so many kids. I honestly don’t know how I feel about them. On one hand they make me want to roll my eyes and slap my forehead with my palm but on the other hand I want to know their damn secret. How are they so content and calm all the time? Is this what devout faith looks like and is it worth the trade off in critical reasoning skills to be so damn happy and fulfilled? At least Michelle got rid of that terrible 80s hairstyle she was still trying to rock with the puffy wraparound top and curled under bangs. In case you think that the Duggars are having so many kids because they only have sex to conceive – think again. They shared way too much information about their sex life in an interview with AOL last year, including the tidbits that “we purpose to keep that spark,” and that they have regular sex when Michelle is pregnant. If they didn’t, they would only be doing it three months a year. I would get my tubes tied if I had a third of the number of kids they have. To each their own, I guess.