Baby #19 for the Duggars born!

[trip]

I hope Josie sails throught without any problems.

Is there a limit to how many c/sections a woman can safely have?

 

[ChristmasElf]

I hope Josie sails throught without any problems.

Is there a limit to how many c/sections a woman can safely have?

I've had 6. My Dr's wife had 8! I think it depends on the woman and what if any complications there could be.

 

[Ember]

I'm okay with being judgmental towards this family. They state they don't watch television yet they sell their children to the media in the from of a tv show. Hmm... I wonder if they're teaching the definition of "hypocrisy" during home schooling time... As I recall the son that got married actually alerted TLC to his wife's positive pregnancy test before telling her. That's just sad. This family may have been a great family once, but I see them as no different from Jon & Kate, selling their children to make a buck. Just because they have faith in God while they do it, doesn't make it right.

I also have some strong opinions on their parenting style of popping out babies like crazy and them handing them off the their siblings to raise. If they didn't want their life style judged, they shouldn't have thought to make a career out marathon baby making.

Of course, all that aside, I wish the best for the new little one.

 

[Starbrite]

Hoping for the best for Baby Josie. (BTW, I love her name)

They state they don't watch television yet they sell their children to the media in the from of a tv show. Hmm... I wonder if they're teaching the definition of "hypocrisy" during home schooling time...

I've never heard them say they don't watch any television. They have said they don't watch MUCH, and they do monitor what the kids watch.

As I recall the son that got married actually alerted TLC to his wife's positive pregnancy test before telling her. That's just sad.

I don't recall that. I remember they found out the sex of the baby on tv & alerted the family that way.

 

[BC]

they found out the sex on the Today show, but he was the one that told Anna she was pregnant.

 

[rparmfamily]

I don't think they completely follow "God's plan" in how many children to have, if I recall, she weans prematurely (around age 6 mo?) in order to be able to concieve earlier than normal. Many (not all) breastfeeding moms go past 1 year before getting their period, naturally spacing children 2+ yrs apart.

Either way, Josie is a gift and I pray/hope for positive news!

 

[mla1977]

I know that it is usually recommended that women breastfeed for a year, but I don't think it is fair to say that weaning at 6 months is premature. I recall my step sisters weaning in less than 3 months because they were going back to work.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I don't think they completely follow "God's plan" in how many children to have, if I recall, she weans prematurely (around age 6 mo?) in order to be able to concieve earlier than normal. Many (not all) breastfeeding moms go past 1 year before getting their period, naturally spacing children 2+ yrs apart.

Either way, Josie is a gift and I pray/hope for positive news!

Actually Michelle has said that for some reason she is not infertile while she is breastfeeding and one sign that makes her think she is pregnant is because the nursing baby will start to reject her milk. So she isn't prematurely weaning, but the naturally occuring pregnancy is affecting her milk and the baby is no longer interested in nursing.

 

[Ember]

they found out the sex on the Today show, but he was the one that told Anna she was pregnant.

Apologies for the error. I don't actually follow their show, I just catch bits and pieces now and then - mostly by accident. (I watched some in the past, but decided I wasn't supporting the show by watching it.)

However, my actual opinion of these people remains the same. The concept of only having a few children my be a modern one, but so is the concept of pimping your family to the media to make money. I have strong suspicions that the Stargate style usage of Michelle Duggar's uterus has more to do with generating continued media attention and continued television specials, than it does with following any plan of God's.

 

[attain]

I wish the family and baby Josie the best. I have a coworker who had her daughter at 27 weeks due to HEELP syndrome. The gallbladder attack the media has mentioned can be a sign of HEELP and the only cure is delivery. I wonder if this was the reason for the early birth, and not because her uterus couldn't handle the pregnancy.

 

[happygirl]

Apologies for the error. I don't actually follow their show, I just catch bits and pieces now and then - mostly by accident. (I watched some in the past, but decided I wasn't supporting the show by watching it.)

However, my actual opinion of these people remains the same. The concept of only having a few children my be a modern one, but so is the concept of pimping your family to the media to make money. I have strong suspicions that the Stargate style usage of Michelle Duggar's uterus has more to do with generating continued media attention and continued television specials, than it does with following any plan of God's.

I couldn't disagree more. They had most of there kids before they went on TV. I think they could walk away from there show. They would live there lives the same way. They aren't after fame and fortune. I think you would be amazed how geniune sp? these people are. With them you get what you see. They don't put on a show for the camera

 

[SaraJayne]

I wish the family and baby Josie the best. I have a coworker who had her daughter at 27 weeks due to HEELP syndrome. The gallbladder attack the media has mentioned can be a sign of HEELP and the only cure is delivery. I wonder if this was the reason for the early birth, and not because her uterus couldn't handle the pregnancy.

It had been reported that the baby was delivered early due to her severe pre-eclampsia (sp?).

 

[wilderness01]

HELLP is life threatening to the mom and delivery needs to be sooner than later. All 24 weekers have a very long road ahead of them and many have life long disabilitiies. It's called a neonatal outcome and some can be very sad. With that said, I don't judge the parents we have worked with that beg us "to do anything to save their baby" as I would due the same. It is the few that have no problems born at this age gestation, believe me, I have worked with these babies for a long time.

I wish their baby to be held in God's hand while she travels down a hard path as she grows, matures and hopefully leaves the hospital one day relatively healthy.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Let me just say this:
If it is God's plan to have 19+ children, then I have a LOT to discuss with the man upstairs...he has some explaining to do!!!!

 

[attain]

It had been reported that the baby was delivered early due to her severe pre-eclampsia (sp?).

HELLP is a severe form of pre-eclampsia, so it would make sense if this was the cause.

 

[Schmeck]

Let me just say this:
If it is God's plan to have 19+ children, then I have a LOT to discuss with the man upstairs...he has some explaining to do!!!!

Well, you answered yourself God = MAN upstairs. You think if men had to bear the children and give birth, there'd be this strain of 'populate the earth with an army of children' mentality?

Prayers for this wee being - my DD16 was almost born at 25 weeks, but was only 12 ounces at that time (I know ultrasounds can be off, but still!) and luckily she decided to stay put. I was given a tour of the NICU - those poor preemies just broke my heart - can't get the image out of my head even now, 16 years later.

 

[barkley]

Many prayers to the Duggar family and baby Josie. Although I disagree with many (most) of the beliefs of the Quiverful movement, I do think it is the family's choice to make the decision about the number of children that they have. I'm sure that this will be a very difficult time for them. If you really believe that God is making all of your reproductive choices then it would be so difficult not to question Him in the coming months. As a mother she will be emotionally and physically exhausted as she deals with the reality of taking care of a preemie. I'm sure she will see that adding a new baby to that mix would be a very bad idea for both Josie and herself. But of course as a Quiverful follower she will have no say in that. She will be letting God make that decision unless she chooses abstinance which is unlikely. To me it would be frightening to not be able to make that basic decision for my child. I'm sure they will be ok as far as medical bills are concerned. The Duggars are financially savy and having a television show will give them advantages other families would not have. I'm also a speech pathologist and have worked with many children who are preemies. Some of the long lasting complications can be severe and others more subtle. An interesting family that I worked with were 25 week gestation twins. One daughter had physical therapy as a baby and now has no lasting issues. Her twin (same birth weight) had necrotizing entercolitis, is profoundly deaf, almost blind, and has severe learning disabilities. So I suppose it is always hard to say what the outcome will be. I do wonder as a homeschooling parent what her stance will be on bringing in outside education resources if needed.

a couple of months back one of the talk shows (i think joy behar's?) did a segment on the quiverful movement (because lifetime's 'secret lives of women' was doing an entire hour segment on it) and they had several women on it, some were current followers/some had been but stopped. apparantly there's kind of 2 categories of 'quiverfulls', one purposly sets out to produce as many children as possible while the second just abstains from any birth control and accepts however many children they are 'blessed' with by god.

what was interesting to me was, prior to this airing i had only ever heard michelle duggar in interviews simply say they followed the quiverfull practices but in interviews i saw that aired after this (and the lifetime show) michelle seemed to make a point of saying she and jim bob did not follow the principle of purposely having as many children as possible-they were of the 'however many god sends us' mindset.

i kind of wondered if this was because the women on the talk show and the husbands/wives in the special that were in the other group came off pretty extreeme in their views that the purpose of having as many kids as possible was to shift the population of the world such that their ULTRA conservative (and imho to some extent very scary/extreemist) christian groups would ultimatly outnumber all other religions and be able to take on the leadership roles that would 'shape' the world into what they believed it should be

the duggars are undoubtedly christians but i suspect this is not the type of mindset they want themselves identified with.

 

[MrsPete]

I know that it is usually recommended that women breastfeed for a year, but I don't think it is fair to say that weaning at 6 months is premature. I recall my step sisters weaning in less than 3 months because they were going back to work.

Relatively few American children are breastfed for six months, so she seems to be weaning earlier than is recommended by experts, but she's still giving her children more than most are getting.

Actually Michelle has said that for some reason she is not infertile while she is breastfeeding and one sign that makes her think she is pregnant is because the nursing baby will start to reject her milk. So she isn't prematurely weaning, but the naturally occuring pregnancy is affecting her milk and the baby is no longer interested in nursing.

Well, no mother is "infertile" during nursing. A nursing mother is LESS LIKELY to conceive because breastfeeding delays the return of ovulation . . . but the nursing mother has no way to know just when she's started ovulating, so breastfeeding is in no way a reliable method of birth control.

Also, children differ in their responses to nursing. My oldest still LOVED nursing at two years, and I had to make her stop. Once my youngest took a taste of solid foods, she was DONE with breastfeeding. She LOVED eating and would gladly have stopped nursing entirely. I forced her to take a little every day, and we limped along 'til she turned one -- I couldn't bear to have her give up the benefits of nursing.

 

[barkley]

Relatively few American children are breastfed for six months, so she seems to be weaning earlier than is recommended by experts, but she's still giving her children more than most are getting. Well, no mother is "infertile" during nursing. A nursing mother is LESS LIKELY to conceive because breastfeeding delays the return of ovulation . . . but the nursing mother has no way to know just when she's started ovulating, so breastfeeding is in no way a reliable method of birth control.

Also, children differ in their responses to nursing. My oldest still LOVED nursing at two years, and I had to make her stop. Once my youngest took a taste of solid foods, she was DONE with breastfeeding. She LOVED eating and would gladly have stopped nursing entirely. I forced her to take a little every day, and we limped along 'til she turned one -- I couldn't bear to have her give up the benefits of nursing.

unfortunatly allot of people believe that nursing causing infertility-allot of them were my public assistance clients who would not be convinced otherwise despite the fact that they routinely had 'irish twin' after 'irish twin' (and if my clients of this mindset were any indication-some women become prolificly fertile immediatly following giving birth, the number of siblings with only 9 months and a few weeks between their births floored me).

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I feel obligated to jump in and correct some misinformation here...(as the author of two published books on breastfeeding, third one expected out next spring).

Breastfeeding definitely CAN suppress ovulation and prevent conception. There are three key elements to making it work, though: the baby needs to be six months old or younger, the mother's periods have not returned, and the baby is breastfeeding exclusively (no formula, no bottles of water, no solid foods). Some experts say no pacifiers either. If all three elements are there, this is more effective than birth control pills in preventing another pregnancy. Once any one element changes (the baby gets older, for example, or starts on solid foods), the risk increases, but many women who are breastfeeding frequently will continue to have ovulation suppressed for longer periods of time. This has been extensively researched.

There are ways to know when ovulation returns. One is the "sympto-thermal" method, where the mother takes her temperature each morning and records it on a chart, along with other physical symptoms that indicate ovulation. Not hard to do at all.

Finally, just to respond to the person who said she "had to make her (two-year-old) stop nursing." I just wanted to clarify that the mother chose to stop breastfeeding her child at that point, which is fine, but if she had continued, the child would have weaned eventually. I just didn't want to leave the impression that if you don't do something to wean a child, that they'll never wean. They do. It might be at an older age than you had planned, but they all do eventually wean.

Teresa