Arkansas woman pregnant with 18th child

Saturday 10th May, 03:19 AM JST

LITTLE ROCK —

An Arkansas woman is pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year’s Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

“We’ve had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us,” she said, laughing.

The Duggars’ oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 650-square-meter home. All the children—whose names start with the letter J—are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores—or “jurisdictions“—are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a “jurisdiction swap,” where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

“The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass,” she said. “The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms,” among other chores.

Duggar said she is six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they’ll keep having children as long as God wills it.

“The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated,” Jim Bob Duggar said. “Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen.”

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

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On the Net:

Duggar family Web site: http://www.duggarfamily.com

Discovery Health site: http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggarfamily.html

7 Comments

presto345 at 06:46 PM JST - 10th May

I am amazed and impressed, but also puzzled at the apparent prerequisite of this couple to procreate. Is it a religious thing? And how can the human body cope with constant pregnancies and subsequent deliveries?
cleo at 07:15 PM JST - 10th May

The Duggar Family Web Site is dripping with references to God and love and Jesus - they say she lost her first baby which was conceived while she was supposedly on the Pill, and that prompted them to decide they would use no more contraception but accept all the babies God sent them.

So yes, it seems to be a religious thing.
Sarge at 07:19 PM JST - 10th May

"they'll keep having children as long as God wills it."

Jesus Christ...
keech2 at 09:47 PM JST - 10th May

They are Quiverfull Christians, who believe that the will of God is completely out of the control of humans. They aren't allowed to practice any form of birth control, not even the rhythm method. Good old boy Jim Bob has run for office as a Republican but lost in the primaries. Religion run amok again.
illsayit at 09:58 PM JST - 10th May

I dont think it is religious. I think that when you have, and you can, you will. God is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days, and tends to take away from the essence, but God willing, does not imply religion to me. Religion is the people. All people do not make this choice, or can't make this choice. For this couple, they could choose this path, because of the will of their life, good on them! Fantastic what the body can do! Surfing Hawaiian Pipeline, aint even as cool as that!
keech2 at 08:35 AM JST - 11th May

illsayit

Just google his or her name. They are doing this because of their religion.
illsayit at 09:17 PM JST - 11th May

keech2 you google it and read it properly. Religion is the people. I dont think there are people in their home forcing them to have sex, cause thats what brings about children yk! They do it for themselves and their love of family, perhaps you couldnt do it, but you ought not make suggestion that the only reason they do have a large family is for their religion.