The Duggar family of Arkansas, had their 17th child on Thursday. Jim Bob (who is a former State House Rep.), and Michelle had a baby girl, Jennifer Danielle , who weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. Jennifer is the 7th girl for the family.
The Duggar Family has appeared on Discovery Health Network before, sharing their life on how they are raising 17 children; the oldest child being 19 years old.
I have seen some of these specials, and I have to say, they seem very organized and have a great system down. Michelle nurses each baby until they are one, and then the child gets paired with an older child as a “helper,” who helps the younger child dress, eat, etc. I also think it is important to note that they support themselves entirely- Jim works in real estate and also has had a business selling used cars.
Having your 17th child in itself is noteworthy, but I was very happy to read the story at People.com, and they mentioned that Jim said Michelle had Jennifer, via VBAC or or vaginal birth after Caesarean.
Having had a VBAC with, Cole, there isn’t a lot of support for it- most doctors just recommend a repeat C-section, even though it is major abdominal surgery, and the recovery time is much longer. I imagine with 17 children, Michelle would need to be back on her feet as soon as possible. Good for her for having a VBAC, which is the normal way to have babies, and good for People.com for mentioning this fact!
You can see a picture of all the Duggars at the above link to People, and if you are interested in VBAC, check out this great blog by Kendra, who just recently welcomed her 2nd daughter by VBAC. She has lots of well researched, and current information on VBAC. (Her blog is also listed in my Blogroll, under VBAC Adventure).
I’ll have to remember the Duggars the next time I am feeling overwhelmed- 🙂
One reply on “I Thought I Had My Hands Full…”
I have seen the Duggars on their Discovery show! You are right that they are super organized and it seems to help how things flow. I think it’s neat that they are paired up, if you are going to have that many children there would be no other way it seems to me, and keeps everyone from feeling like *they* are the parents to everyone else. We are SO done at two, I can’t imagine three let alone seventeen, so kudos to this family for making a conscious decision on how to parent this many children! I had forgotten she was pregnant in the show so thanks for posting that they safely had the baby! 🙂