Josie Duggar

[jjarman]

I have to say I love watching the Duggars and have watched their family grow for years. I find them to be refreshing in this world where teenagers are surly and disrespectful, on drugs or alcohol, etc. And the parents truly appear to have their children’s best interest at heart. Compare that to the Jon and Kate saga? The Duggar children are all normal looking kids to me and very polite and well mannered. I watched the show last night and thought the little ones appeared so normal. They were acting just like kids do when the parents are away, running and yelling and being kids. Who are we to judge that they choose to have so many children? Catholics and Mormans have been doing this for generations and no one criticized them. These children are all well taken care of, very much loved and very mature and responsible. Now I would never want that many kids but I would love for my son, 19, to marry one of those girls. At least I would know she was not on drugs, infested with diseases or pregnant way too soo. I wonder if I can get a phone number, LOL?

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Last night was very difficult to watch especially when all the kids came into to see their baby sister and realized just how small and fragile that Josie is. I was happy to see that despite all the risks with a premature baby they were celebrating and not being all doom and gloom over the situation. I hope she continues to do better and grows up to be a happy and healthy girl.

I thought that was nice too. Jimbob told the kids that Josie was beautiful and perfect in every way. I have to say I'm impressed with how they're handling it. I think they both realize the long road ahead for Josie. Michelle kept calling her a miracle and seemed so grateful for the technology that has helped her littlest one survive.

 

[stahshee]

I thought that was nice too. Jimbob told the kids that Josie was beautiful and perfect in every way. I have to say I'm impressed with how they're handling it. I think they both realize the long road ahead for Josie. Michelle kept calling her a miracle and seemed so grateful for the technology that has helped her littlest one survive.

I cried when he said that

 

[Robinrs]

Despite being from Arkansas, I've never watched this show and know next to nothing about this family. But, all that said, I think this might be an interesting chance to get some information out there about what kind of struggles extremely premature babies and their families endure. So many people just think...oh, she's little but she'll grow....often, it is sooooo much more involved than that. People have no idea. I had my son at 26 weeks. I can't tell you how many clueless people said stupid things like how "lucky" I was to not ever have to deal with the last months of pregnancy, or similar idiotic stuff. I had pre-eclampsia and very nearly died myself. My baby almost died. But, hey, at least I didn't have to be uncomfortable in the summer time heat!

My son weighed one pound and seven ounces at birth. He spent 93 in the NICU (the first 40 days on a ventilator) before coming home weighing 3 pounds and 14 ounces. It was the scariest three months of my life. We had to move two hours away from home to basically live in hospital provided housing so we could be with him day and night. When we weren't by his side, I lived in terror of a phone call from the nurses. On more than one occasion we were called in to say our goodbyes. By all accounts, though, he did very well and is now a happy, healthy six year old. Lots of preemies aren't so lucky and struggle with absolutely life long complications. And, like others have said, when I think about the birth of my child....I don't get that warm, "happiest day of my life" feeling. All I remember is being scared out of my mind and begging the doctors to let me get up and go see him before he died. (They wouldn't let me out of bed for 24 hours and I was so afraid he'd be gone by then.) And, as mentioned before, nobody knew what to say....we got sympathy cards instead of congratulations cards. It was so hard.

So....whatever anybody may think of the family...I don't have a problem with this show if it helps spread some awareness about the reality of giving birth to a very premature baby. We are March of Dimes Ambassadors for our state, so we go out and speak and tell our story all the time. So many people just have no idea.....

This is my son 24 hours after his birth at 26 weeks, weighing 1lb and 7oz.

And this one is from when he was about a week old.

And this was when he was two months old, about a month before he came home.

And this, thankfully, is him at six...a happy, healthy kindergarten student! (Although he is still TINY for his age....wears a size 5T clothes.)

OmG, GEM, he is aDORable!!

You are so blessed!

 

[KiKi Mouse]

Michelle was due March 18. I am due with our miracle baby March 14th. DH and I watched. I bawled. I kept saying "can you imagine us going through that with Oksana"? I cannot imagine. I know that when I hit 30 weeks I breathed a big sigh of relief because I knew our daughter had a good chance at life if something were to happen.

Seeing little Josie in her incubator/bassinette was really hard. It bothered me that she couldn't be in her parents arms where she needs to be. I hope that she continues to improve and I know I will cry tears of joy when she can come home.

 

[charming23]

I cried when he said that

Me too! It is refreshing to see them see this as still being a blessing while realizing what a long journey is ahead of them.

 

[mla1977]

I enjoyed the show, though it was very sad. I keep the family in my prayers.

As for Anna and Josh...

Yes Anna did look a bit overwhelmed with all of the children, but I don't think that will slow them down one bit. One weekend I watch my godson and his older brother and then told my BFF how I was amazed that she could manage two kids. She reminded me that she had time to get use to taking care of one child before having to learn to take care of two. She had the opportunity to grow into that # of children (she now has 3). Josh and Anna will be given the same opportunity to get used to having more children as their family grows.

 

[Kimberle]

I thought Anna looked like she might be pregnant again already. I even said to my son. Poor thing she is pregnant again already

I think it was just the baby weight. Mac was born mid-Oct. This show was filmed mid-Dec.

 

[Kewz1]

I have to say I love watching the Duggars and have watched their family grow for years. I find them to be refreshing in this world where teenagers are surly and disrespectful, on drugs or alcohol, etc. And the parents truly appear to have their children’s best interest at heart. Compare that to the Jon and Kate saga? The Duggar children are all normal looking kids to me and very polite and well mannered. I watched the show last night and thought the little ones appeared so normal. They were acting just like kids do when the parents are away, running and yelling and being kids. Who are we to judge that they choose to have so many children? Catholics and Mormans have been doing this for generations and no one criticized them. These children are all well taken care of, very much loved and very mature and responsible. Now I would never want that many kids but I would love for my son, 19, to marry one of those girls. At least I would know she was not on drugs, infested with diseases or pregnant way too soo. I wonder if I can get a phone number, LOL?

I went to hit the "Like" button then remembered I'm not on Facebook!

Kristen

 

[freckles and boo]

While I am sure they consider themselves "blessed", I think they finally ran out of luck. They rolled the dice many times after being warned not to risk further pregnancies. I wish all their children happy, independent futures and I hope that the newest little one pulls through with no major problems. However, I cannot act as if this family is some sort of beacon of virtue. None of these children appear to have the option of "opting out" of being on television and even if there was some pretense of giving them the choice, little kids can't make informed decisions.

And, yes, JimBob is kinda creepy.

 

[m!ssemmx0]

I don't really watch the show, but I was kind of interested since I was born at about 23 weeks and weighed a few ounces more than Josie. I think now that the baby is probably going to be special needs, the Duggars need to stop having babies. They'll have enough to worry about, they don't need any more.

 

[disneymarie]

Oh gosh, I thought it was airing on THursday and missed the show.
I am a sucker for babies, and mush. All the special angels we have due to new technology is amazing. What a special blessing and miricle.

I know they will repeat the show at some point and hope I can see it.
Blessings to all our forum miricles, premmies, special gifts and even the surprizes.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

disneymarie: I belive it is reairing this week--maybe Tuesday? Whatever their regular night is. They will reair the one hour and then they will show a second half hour episdoe following that. I don't recall the times.


I haven't seen the show yet as I was out of town, but I did pick up the latest people magazine.

They have a story on the Duggars (which was oddly placed in between a story about Tiger Woods being a sex addict and a story about Jon Edwards' love child ).

In any case--it was a lovely story about how the family is dong and they do have a picture of Josie and I guess she does not look too bad for a 30 week old (her in utero age).

She is 6 weeks old and Michelle did finally get to hold her. She does do the breast milk via feeding tube and they had a first--they celebrated a poopie diaper for her which I guess is a very big deal for a micro-preemie.

So far so good, it is of course unknown of any long term affects from her premature birth. They did have a quote from her doctor which stated (as did prior sources) that it was Michelle's age (over 40) and not her number of gestations that was a contributing factor to Josie's premature birth. I wish that fact was not overlooked so much.

5 weeks until I'm 30 weeks and can feel better about where we are at in this pregnancy.

 

[luvmyfam444]

It will be rerun on Dicovery Health on Thurs p.m. - I watched the last 1/2hr or so - thinking I'd catch the 1st 1/2 on Thurs & my dh went & changed out Directv package & dropped it! UGH!

 

[Becky2005]

I haven't read through everything but I went on the assumption since they aired the episode, the baby is holding her own at the moment.

I would hate to think they would air it if things were not going well at this point, however, it IS TV and I know nothing other than I'm sure they aired it for ratings. I just think it would be in poor taste to air it at the moment if things weren't going well.

 

[DMRick]

I'm assuming the baby is doing very well, since TLC announced the name change..19 and counting, starting with part two.

I haven't read through everything but I went on the assumption since they aired the episode, the baby is holding her own at the moment.

I would hate to think they would air it if things were not going well at this point, however, it IS TV and I know nothing other than I'm sure they aired it for ratings. I just think it would be in poor taste to air it at the moment if things weren't going well.

 

[Kimberle]

I'm assuming the baby is doing very well, since TLC announced the name change..19 and counting, starting with part two.

She may be doing well at this moment. Preemies can change on a dime. They are great and 5 minutes later they crash. I have a preemie, I've BTDT....

 

[DMRick]

She may be doing well at this moment. Preemies can change on a dime. They are great and 5 minutes later they crash. I have a preemie, I've BTDT....

If they don't know something we don't know, they would be foolish to change the name of the show so soon.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

If they don't know something we don't know, they would be foolish to change the name of the show so soon.

That's why I was thinking too. I can't imagine they'd change the name of show if they weren't fairly certain little Josie is doing well. Can you imagine how sad it would be for the Duggar family to have to deal with the loss of baby and be reminded of it by the title of their show going from 19 to 18 kids and counting. Although, I wonder too if they'll change it to just 19 kids since I have a feeling Michelle won't be in any hurry to get pregnant now. Actually, she said this pregnancy completely surprised her as she thought she was going through 'the change' due to her age. I'm sure she and Jimbob are going to be very busy focusing on Josie's care and not on when Michelle is ovulating.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If they don't know something we don't know, they would be foolish to change the name of the show so soon.

I hate to sound morbid, but....

as of this week's people magazine, Josie is alive (and well for her age as of the date of the article) and is 6 weeks old and Michelle has finally gotten to hold her.

And even if she were to pass tomorrow--it will not change the fact that the Duggar's had 19 children.

While they certainly wouldn't be raising 19 if that were to occur, I don't know of any family who "deletes" a child from their memory when they die so young.

As others have said, her condition can change for teh better or for the worse without warning.

But they have 19 children regardless. I would find it incredibly tacky to air a show without the name adjustment and and pretending via show title that she doesn't exist when she very clearly does.