Michelle Duggar gives her kids a Mother’s Day surprise: ‘We’re expecting!’
By Bob Considine
The Duggar kids planned a big Mother’s Day surprise for their mom this year. But the surprise was on them when Michelle Duggar announced on the TODAY Show that they were soon to welcome an 18th sibling.
“We’re expecting!” the happy mother told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira and the entire Arkansas clan. “Number 18!
“They didn’t know. My girls watch the calendar like a hawk. We just found out on Monday night.”
“On Monday night she brought one of the [pregnancy] testers in,” Michelle’s husband Jim Bob added. “I wanted to bring it with me, but she wouldn’t let me.”
And baby, due around New Year’s Day, would make 20.
Joshua, the Duggars’ eldest son, said the news, two days before Mother’s Day was “a shock” — if only to a point.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” the 20-year-old said. “But it’s been nine months [since the birth of the last baby], so yeah.”
Family forest
To date, the Duggars’ 17 natural children range in age from 20 years to 9 months. Included in the mix are 10 boys and seven girls — Joshua, twins Jana and John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah and baby Jennifer, who arrived last Aug. 2.
With two sets of twins, Michelle, 41, 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.
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