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

By JILL ZEMAN,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-09 15:05:14
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.

On the Net:

Duggar family Web site: www.duggarfamily.com

Discovery Health site: http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggarfamily.html

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
05/09/08 15:04 EDT
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Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 39
39 comments

dking19301 05:36:16 PM May 09 2008

i bet these kids will never want their own children

aylwrose 05:35:16 PM May 09 2008

I watched the TV special on this family. The parents admitted that they do NOT raise the children. As soon as they get home with the new child, he or she is passed off to the older children to raise. Each child raises the younger ones until he or she is able to take care of a younger one. . . . I believe the show said Mr. D was a real estate agent. She might have been one.

I think the people need to use birth control or they both need to be fixed. It's as if he's a dog and can't stop himself from breeding and she doesn't have brains enough to say no more!! If they were breeding to have enough farm hands to run the plantation, it might make sense...but they're just breeding to be breeding. Just like a puppy mill!

dking19301 05:34:58 PM May 09 2008

home schooling that many kids, they have no social skills

dking19301 05:34:15 PM May 09 2008

you can tell they aren't normal by the way they dress

paradisaxo 05:31:22 PM May 09 2008

The dad must be raking in at least 1 million dollars a year.... AT LEAST! But i think it's aweful.. how can they possibly provide the emotional needs for each child?

burbangrl45 05:30:17 PM May 09 2008

good for them

ttjd43 05:28:58 PM May 09 2008

Somehow, someway, someone always manages to throw in something about gay people. I know it was said in relation to AOL, but so what? Give it some thought Jerome, it's not gays that are ruining our society, its hater mongers and greed and a lack of respect for those around you. People-express your opinions, but don't trash others no matter how ridiculous their statement is.

dking19301 05:26:50 PM May 09 2008

the older kids are doing the parenting

tutu3840 05:24:01 PM May 09 2008

What gives so many the right to think that they know what is best for this family? It is their business, they have not come to me or mine for a hand out. Plain and simple it is their business. It may not be for me but apparently it is for them so lets shut up and leave them alone. Perhaps if we all clean our own homes and back yards the world will be a much happier place. Also a big plus in their favor.......They are legally married, they have no out of wed lock children, as so many do today.

velvetdroidgirl 05:23:34 PM May 09 2008

That's just lovely. If everyone in the world followed the Duggar's example, Earth would be stripped of all her resources. And how can anyone be an attentive parent to EIGHTEEN children? Forget about having any one-on-one time with Mom and Dad. I feel bad for the older children. Whether they like it or not, they have been forced into parenting roles. And of course, on a crude and shallow note, I'd hate to see the shape of Mrs. Duggar's uterus. Geez. After turning out litters and litters of miniature Christian fundies, her body has to be exhausted. As for their sex life? I would imagine that it's like feeding a Tic-tac to a whale.

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