Thread: Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

May 9, 11:26 AM EDT


Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

By JILL ZEMAN
Associated Press Writer


AP Photo/BETH HALL








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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman - she's 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 7,000-square-foot 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's 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://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/1/ ... TE=DEFAULT

Unless they can afford that many kids on their salaries, it's just plain irresponsible to have that many kids! People who continue to have large broods like this should NOT be receiving welfare!

How about mixing in a condom once in a while! My goodness, this type of uncontrolled breeding cannot be "green" for the environment can it?

What would Al Gore say?

the duggars have a reality show, imo are rakin in $$$$ from it and the father does well enuf on his own. to each his own, they are americans. myself, my 3 are all the kids i can stand.

at least they are American, maybe they can personally breed more than IA combined...jk...They are helping to win the war, what we just have to breed more than the IA right? why should IA have all the fun and freebies?

The Duggars strike me as a wholesome, moral, and financially responsible American family. These aren't deadbeat welfare recipients here.

As Pat Buchanan says, demography is destiny. In that regard, the Duggars are allies.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING MANY KIDS AS LONG AS YOU CAN AFFORD THEM.

THE ONLY ISSUE I HAVE WITH THIS PARTICULAR COUPLE IS ATTENTION TO THE CHILDREN. I AM GLAD THEY ARE HOME SCHOOLED BECAUSE THAT WAY THEY END UP ALL GETTING ENOUGH ATTENTION FROM THEIR PARENTS THROUGHOUT THE DAY. THE ATTENTION FROM ONLY TWO PARENTS WOULD BE SPREAD AWFULLY THIN AMONG 18 KIDS.....ESPECIALLY WITH INFANTS BEING PART OF THE MIX.

BUT HEY...THEY CAN AFFORD THE KIDS. AND THEY HOME SCHOOL THEM AS WELL.

I HOPE THEY HAVE GOOD LIFE INSURANCE IN CASE (GOD FORBID) SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN TO ONE OF THEM. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, THE OLDEST CHILDREN ARE OLD ENOUGH TO LEND A HAND IN AN EMERGENCY.

AND THEY SEEM TO HAVE A SYSTEM WORKED OUT THAT THE CHILDREN ALL FOLLOW. THEY ALL WORK TOGETHER IT SEEMS, SO THIS IS VERY GOOD TRAINING.

I THINK THESE CHILDREN CAN GROW UP TO BE PRODUCTIVE ADULTS.

This family amazes me.....they'd be pulling me down from the rafters or bringing me pizza in the nut ward on mothers day because that is a big family. But they aren't welfare receipiants and don't expect the American public to fund their ability to have children just because they can birth babies. They appear to have put forth great effort to be responsible parents and raise well balanced good kids. Not my cup of tea, but this is America....just birth what you can afford and handle on your own dime.

This couple are extraordinary parents. This mother knows all about each child, just as I would about my three. As well, these kids have all learned something that most kids do not, to help out in the household and the most important part is they have learned to put others before themselves. Something so many kids certainly do not do these days. So many people will say they want one child so they can focus their love and affection on that one child, but what actually happens is that child can very likely grow up to be very narcissistic (especially in our "me" society today, and the parents doing the "you're so special" thing too much).

They are self-supporting people, they owe ZERO debt, their home and all they own is paid for, never by credit. How many these days with just one or two kids can say that?

The more the merrier, we need more good decent Americans like this couple to have and raise as many kids as they can, and spread their decency to the corners of this nation.

Originally Posted by AE

This couple are extraordinary parents. This mother knows all about each child, just as I would about my three. As well, these kids have all learned something that most kids do not, to help out in the household and the most important part is they have learned to put others before themselves. Something so many kids certainly do not do these days. So many people will say they want one child so they can focus their love and affection on that one child, but what actually happens is that child can very likely grow up to be very narcissistic (especially in our "me" society today, and the parents doing the "you're so special" thing too much).

They are self-supporting people, they owe ZERO debt, their home and all they own is paid for, never by credit. How many these days with just one or two kids can say that?

The more the merrier, we need more good decent Americans like this couple to have and raise as many kids as they can, and spread their decency to the corners of this nation.

As long as they can afford them, more power to them and God bless! I know there'd be no way I could do this, they'd be carting me off to the "funhouse".