20 Kids and Counting

Yep, you heard it. Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar from TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting are at it again: baby number 20 is on the way. After the first 19, I guess they couldn’t get enough of the spit up, diapers, baby food, crying and sleepless nights.

As we all have watched the Duggar clan grow year after year, child after child, I begin to wonder, when will they stop? Michelle, who is now 45, experienced a life-threatening case of preeclampsia in her 19^th pregnancy with now-two-year-old Josie. She is at the age where many women have stopped having children not only for the health risks that are possible for themselves, but also the health risks the unborn child may face.

While the Duggars claim that Michelle is in “better health than she was 10 years ago,” it is still hard for audiences and fans to ignore the hard facts of pregnancy at her age. The Duggars were very lucky that Josie has fully recovered and developed after being born at only 25 weeks due to the preeclampsia. Yes, I am sure the daily napping and exercise couples with the strict diet Michelle is adhering to are beneficial to both her and the developing baby, BUT these precautions do not negate the age-related risks that are associated with pregnancy at 45.

Regardless of all these frightening possibilities, Jim Bob, Michelle and all 19 of the Duggar children are excited for the arrival of number 20. Michelle is expecting to deliver the baby (they will find out the sex around Christmas) this spring in April through her first schedule Cesarean section.