The Duggar Family: 18 Kids & Counting

[k4kathy]

My thoughts and prayers go for the Dugger family and especially Michelle and baby Josie.

I would far rather watch the Dugger's and Table for 12 than many of the other reality shows airing. They both seem to be down-to-earth loving families who act much like my own. LOL. I am happy for them that they are able to have sponsors who help out. Just remember, they have to claim all those "gifts" on their income tax, so they are not exactly "free."

FWIW, I went to school with some children whose mother gave birth to her 26th child when we were in high school. (Many, many moons ago, in the days of cloth diapers and plastic pants.) All grew into adulthood and have done fairly well for themselves.

It is my understanding that they have a chapel built inside their home where Jim Bob does the preacher thing.So therefore ,they are not reguired to pay income tax.
I hope everything turns out good for the Dugger family.
I think the Dugger kids are great.The only problem I have is the fact that their parents don't allow cable TV in the home,yet reap the benefits of others who do watch their program on cable TV.Ummmm,what's that all about?

 

[Hopeful One]

It is my understanding that they have a chapel built inside their home where Jim Bob does the preacher thing.So therefore ,they are not reguired to pay income tax.
I hope everything turns out good for the Dugger family.
I think the Dugger kids are great.The only problem I have is the fact that their parents don't allow cable TV in the home,yet reap the benefits of others who do watch their program on cable TV.Ummmm,what's that all about?

BBM - I believe I have heard them say that they hope to enrich other people by showing how to live a simple and pure life. I probably worded that poorly but hopefully you get the jist of what I'm trying to say. :crazy:

 

[Boyz_Mum]

BBM - I believe I have heard them say that they hope to enrich other people by showing how to live a simple and pure life. I probably worded that poorly but hopefully you get the jist of what I'm trying to say. :crazy:

That makes sense~ you said it great!

 

[PeteyGirl]

BBM - I believe I have heard them say that they hope to enrich other people by showing how to live a simple and pure life. I probably worded that poorly but hopefully you get the jist of what I'm trying to say. :crazy:

You said it well . . . it's how I interpret their presence on TV in the first place.

It does NOTHING to encourage me to become a Christian or adapt myself to living their kind of life . . . but it does inspire respect for their lifestyle. I do respect it, I see the fruits of it as good. I don't believe for a second the Duggar household is the idyllic Happyland that is portrayed, but that doesn't detract from the impressive goodness of it.

 

[jjenny]

God has a lot to do with it if you believe what the Duggars believe - that God dictates sex is for the purpose of reproduction. Many religions don't believe in birth control. That has a lot to do with God as many religions are centered around God.

They certainly have been reproducing.

 

[Elphaba]

Birthing and religious choices aside, is there any news on little Josie and Michelle?

 

[SewingDeb]

http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/12/82135/

 

[Hermione]

I hope little Josie is ok and getting stronger every day.

I do not come from a large family (tho I am not an only child), so I have always been interested in the Duggars- I have watched bits and pieces of the show and while I would not be interested in their lifestyle, I always wanted a sister in particular, and in general, always wished I had LOTS of siblings and a large family.

I figure, you'll never be lonely! At least, that was my reasons for wishing for siblings.

 

[browneyes]

http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/12/82135/

It says that Michelle will be in the hospital for awhile. What were her complications?

 

[Hopeful One]

Josie doing "as well as can be expected", Michelle released from the hospital.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20331675,00.html

 

[PeteyGirl]

It says that Michelle will be in the hospital for awhile. What were her complications?

Pre-eclampsia usually resolves after the baby is delivered, but my guess is Michelle suffered from it pretty severely, and her systems did not snap back right away. There is kidney and liver failure (known by lab values) that the docs probably wanted to see reversing . . . her blood pressure may not have bounced back to normal so quickly. This is my best guess anyway

 

[PeteyGirl]

snipped: (quoting Michelle)
"Josie is doing as well as can be expected for a baby at her age. We are taking each hour as it comes," says Michelle, who has been released from the hospital.

Sounds about right. The child struggles to live hour by hour and minute by minute. Her condition could change for the worse between one moment and the next (and will, considering).

 

[Hopeful One]

Sounds about right. The child struggles to live hour by hour and minute by minute. Her condition could change for the worse between one moment and the next (and will, considering).

Exactly. It will be awhile before we know if she will survive. And even longer still to see if there are any long-term effects of such an premature birth.

 

[txsvicki]

I hope little Josie is ok and getting stronger every day.

I do not come from a large family (tho I am not an only child), so I have always been interested in the Duggars- I have watched bits and pieces of the show and while I would not be interested in their lifestyle, I always wanted a sister in particular, and in general, always wished I had LOTS of siblings and a large family.

I figure, you'll never be lonely! At least, that was my reasons for wishing for siblings.

I'm an only child who loved having lots of friends so wasn't too lonely, but it is very lonely now that I'm older. I'd really love having lots of siblings with nieces and nephews who actually care about each other like the Duggars. I hope the baby is okay. It would be hard to see that wonderful family lose their new baby.

 

[PeteyGirl]

For no other reason than that it amazed and wrenched my heart out (my kind of entertainment ) I've followed a few preemie blogs. Josie isn't just tiny. She is barely alive. The treatments to save her life will end up damaging her lungs and her eyes. Feeding her Michelle's breast milk may cause her bowel to die. She has one nurse who does nothing but sit with her and watch her monitors and administer meds and record.

What the parents go through . . . I can imagine it but that does no justice. And how the baby suffers. I can understand the Duggars to be so grief stricken at what they are witnessing their daughter go through that they are silent on the matter.

 

[MomofBoys]

According to cousin Amy Duggar, Michelle was able to be released and little Josie is "stable and in God's hands." She said something else that made it sound like things were looking optimistic, but I forget what it was.

Twenty-five weeks is kind of a gray area. Still a micropreemie, but every day at that stage can make a difference. Knowing now that she was showing symptoms of pre-e, I'd imagine they would have given Michelle at least one steroid shot to help prepare Josie's lungs.

It's hard to say. I read a ton of preemie blogs and have read up on this stuff for the better part of three years thanks to my own fear of pre-term labor. You start to get general feelings about outcomes. You see 23 weeks and think "OMG, wow. What a miracle!" and immediately start reading to see what disabilities they have. At 24 weeks, you reiterate the miracle and know that the baby has to have vision or hearing issues and are so happy when they don't. Now at 25, you see bad outcomes, but it seems like the lion's share out there are good. A lot of time the kids have glasses or slight learning delays, but for the most part they're fine. Of course, that's very general and not scientific, LOL. Not to mention that the little girl in Miami (born at 21w6d) has little to no issues years later.

I was surprised to learn that babies born at 25 weeks often do better in terms of setbacks than babies born at 26 or 27 weeks. I never did figure out why, but there's research out there to support it.

 

[KaylynnCouture]

Duggars Temporarily Move to Be Closer to Baby Josie

The entire family is moving in with a friend in Little Rock, Ark. so they can be closer to their two-week old daughter Josie, who is still hospitalized in intensive care.

Jim Bob released a statement to RadarOnline.com detailing the family's plans so that the entire Duggar clan can be together for Christmas.

Here is his statement: “Josie is two-weeks-old today. We continue to take things day by day -- she remains in the NICU where doctors are tracking her progress. Our entire family is planning to relocate to Little Rock temporarily to be close to Josie.

"In the meantime, we're grateful that a close friend in Little Rock has opened up their home to us for the holidays. The older children
recently returned from a mission in El Salvador so the whole family will be together and close to Josie for Christmas. We're so thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers.”

Snipped from http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2009/12/duggar-family-moving-be-near-hospitalized-baby-holiday

 

[Boyz_Mum]

Lots of prayers for the Duggar family. My heart swells that they have decided to stay in a place close to Josie for the holiday. They have so many more children than we do and I'd like to believe that we'd do the same thing, though I'm not sure if it would be met with a bit of animosity.

Bless these people who can raise a family and stick together.

 

[TakeNote]

http://www.4029tv.com/news/22001106/detail.html

dec 18

video includedd in the link....with Michelle on the phone talking to the local news

“I was told the Duggars were there protesting it, and that Mrs. Duggar was up there crying. And she said that she didn't want alcohol in her neighborhood or her town, so we got turned down for it,” said assistant manager Tomie Labeff.

 

[BuzzieCat]

http://www.4029tv.com/news/22001106/detail.html

dec 18

video includedd in the link....with Michelle on the phone talking to the local news

“I was told the Duggars were there protesting it, and that Mrs. Duggar was up there crying. And she said that she didn't want alcohol in her neighborhood or her town, so we got turned down for it,” said assistant manager Tomie Labeff.

Hmm, I happen to agree with her and I wouldn't care if alcohol wasn't available anywhere, BUT if she got her way just because of her notoriety (i.e., I don't think just one "regular," non-famous person protesting would keep the E-Z mart from getting their liquor license), that's not fair IMO.