We Get It. You Like Popping Out the Children.

You don’t have to keep proving it to us.

An Arkansas woman has given birth to her 18th child.

Michelle Duggar delivered the baby girl by Caesarean section Thursday at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers. The baby, named Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar, weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.

“The ultimate Christmas gift from God,” said Jim Bob Duggar, the father of the 18 children. “She’s just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters.”

The Duggars now have 10 sons and eight daughters.

Jim Bob Duggar said Michelle started having contractions Wednesday night. She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways. Jim Bob said both baby and mother were doing well Thursday night.

“We both would love to have more,” he said.

Between Jim Bob and myself, we have an average of 9 babies each. I’d say I’m pretty fertile. (Got it, ladies?)

And there’s a not-so-friendly-but-kinda-hilarious picture about the family here if you’d like to see it.

(Thanks to Ben and others for the link!)

"And Elvis Presley. (Or at least his ghost. Or something.)"

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Kate

Does he know he can PEE out of it, too????
Aj

AP – In this Aug. 2, 2007 file photo, Michelle Duggar, left, is surrounded by her children and husband Jim …

It’s only a matter of time before they unite and revolt.
Derek

One of you, please get something cut already!!
ObamaJamaMan

Reminds me of the old You Bet Your Life game show segment with Groucho Marx hosting.

He had on a couple who had 17 children, and when Groucho asked why, the wife replied that they loved children very much.

Groucho’s infamous reply was “I love my cigar, too, but at least I take it out of my mouth every once in a while!”
Skepticat

This is the best argument against the pro-choice movement I’ve ever seen.

And I’m pro-choice.
Kayla

I remember hearing she was pregnant again a few months ago..sheesh.. Now, I really, really, really love children and can’t wait to have a whole litter of them myself, but I’ll at least stop at a dozen. D:
Noadi

What bothers me about them is not the number of children. My grandparents had 15 children and if you ask my grandmother why she’s says she loved having kids around (and still has grandkids over all the time) and the usefulness of a large family on a farm.

What bothers me is that they exploit it for gain. They are using their children to make money off people gawking at the big family and that disgusts me.
Milena

Don’t they have a TV show now too? TLC’s 18 Kids and Counting, or something?
Aj

My grandparents had 14 and the number bothers me, not exactly a fine example of family planning. It’s just so unnecessary, every sperm is not sacred, have as many kids as you can manage if you want to, don’t get ridiculous about it and ignore the consequences.
Richard Wade

Ah, the insect survival strategy. Gotta love it. Nature at its most savage. Well, at least it appears by the picture that her latest replicants are smaller than the earlier models.
laterose

That just can’t be good for her body. Or their finances.
FrodoSaves

Most shocking of all is the 19th Century garb. Holy Puritans, Batman!
«bønez_brigade»

“…the baby was lying sideways.”

Just like the parents have done 18 times now. Oooh, cold, I know, I know — I’m assuming they don’t practice “extraction before launch” or “donning the slicker”.

Anywho, mewonders if the baby’s sideways positioning was considered a “miracle” by the parents (and other miracle-seeking fundies). She’s only been cut open 3 times, so the babies likely just slide right out the chute by now.
Joanna

I was unaware of this “Quiverfull” phenomenon so checked it out on Wikipedia. Talk about taking the verse “be fruitful and multiply” literally. I’m amazed that there are women that adhere to this belief system: Summed up as “Relinquish your womb to God!”

Birth control of any kind is considered incompatible with this ultra conservative belief system. I saw a guy in a t-shirt this past summer in a baseball stadium crowd that had a big comment suggesting “The Pill=Murder”. I found myself offended by it…it bothered me enough to be reminded of it now … I thought maybe he was an ultra orthodox Catholic of some kind.

Now I wonder if this person was a Quiverfull adherant (in ideology, if not in actual membership). I’d never even CONSIDERED that argument…or seen it so blatantly displayed on a large bellied, middle-aged man!

I do recall the Andrea Yates episode in 2001 and remember being furious that the husband wasn’t held accountable for what happened–he was aware of her depression/mental illness. How could a husband not be aware of his wife’s fragile mental state? The warning signals were there and appear to have been ignored.

Probably dismissed as the act of a sinner who didn’t believe strongly enough…instead of seeing how abnormal it is to mandate that a woman breeds every year because God says so. Like it’s a woman’s only mission in life. She’s institutionalized now. I wonder if there’s been any follow-up by the media.
Epistaxis

I don’t understand why the mainstream media report on these families without mentioning that they have all these children because they follow the “Quiverfull” religious movement. It’s like they want to sell the controversy of a huge family, but shy away from the controversy of especially wacko religion.

Even more disturbing is that Jim Bob ran for both houses of Congress, and Michelle was named Young Mother of the Year.
Julie Marie

oh dear, that’s alot of children. I”m glad its not me.
JimboB

Damn you, Jim Bob, for tarnishing my screenname!
Jeff Satterley

I’m surprised by the judgmental comments here. While I agree that I could never imagine having (or even wanting to have) 18 kids, and their religious beliefs are pretty wacky (whose aren’t?), there are a lot worse people in the world to talk about than the Duggar family.

Don’t they have a TV show now too? TLC’s 18 Kids and Counting, or something?

I think that was only a one hour special on TLC, not a continuing series. They did one or two others.

don’t get ridiculous about it and ignore the consequences.

What consequences? Jim-Bob does very well for himself (I think he rents out a large number of commercial properties, and they are completely self-sufficient.

What bothers me is that they exploit it for gain. They are using their children to make money off people gawking at the big family and that disgusts me.

It’s not as if they went begging TLC to put them on TV. I’m sure they made some money, but really, enough to support a family of 18?! Besides, I thought they show showed us how self-sufficient they all are. They built their own house! The older kids help with raising the younger ones, and appear to be very responsible people. While some of us may disagree with homeschooling or the religiousness, this is by no means a bad family. They have always been presented as hospitable and nice to everyone.

Most shocking of all is the 19th Century garb. Holy Puritans, Batman!

Making fun of their clothing? What are we, immature teenagers? They make their own clothing, rather than spend a ridiculous amount of money to buy retail. I’m not saying its normal, but there’s no reason to make fun.

Let me be clear: I don’t want to sugar-coat the fact that they are pro-life, and probably agree with a lot of other positions the religious right has taken. But there are plenty of other religious crazies in this country, and there is no need to single this family out. The Quiverfull thing is strange, but again, by no means does that mean this family is deserving of mockery.

I would think respecting the reproductive rights of all women includes allowing them to have as few or as many children as they please.
Polly

Jeff Satterley,

I agree with you with a couple of caveats:

a)that the mother REALLY does want all those kids and is not just pressured by her beliefs
b)I respect that they’re self-sufficient, but on an increasingly polluted world, I think merely being in an economic position to support your litter isn’t enough justification. Not that they are beholden to justify their personal decisions to anyone but themselves.
Laurie

😛 I drive by Mercy Medical every day on my way to work. Craziness.
hoverFrog

I’m not sure if this is a dig at Jim Bob and Michelle or at the media for reporting it. As far as I can tell the Duggans want to have children, can afford them and can care for them well. Their religious beliefs might have something to do with the high number of children or it might not.

My unwife and I would like many more children but have stopped at four for practical reasons. If money were no object we’d probably foster or adopt to expand our family. I personally love the way children teach parents so much about the world just by asking questions.

The media probably just latched onto the family for a bit of exhibitionism or fun. It’s sometimes worth breaking up the constant depression of the economy, war or that nasty chap in Zimbabwe with a story that’s a little unusual. That is until is turns into a freak show. I can get that from the tabloids.

My father was one of twelve but I think it is important to remember that families aimed to be large in those days. Infant mortality was higher than it is today so numbers helped to ensure (or insure) against a tragic loss. There was little chance of the state helping you out so having kids meant extra workers in later life and support for your old age. Older siblings also took up some of the care responsibilities for younger kids so the burden of parenthood wasn’t as heavy as you’d imagine.
Ex Partiot

complete idiots, both of them
MAZZ

Besides from the financial aspect (which, from the comments above, I understand is not an issue), the fact that a mother (housewife) and a father (working), can not physically and emotionally care for their own children. They are relying on the older children to take care of the younger ones and robbing the elder siblings of their youth and childhood. Those caregiver children are basically being forced into parenthood. This isn’t considered abuse? I’ve read about the Quiverful movement and it seems very similar to polygamy. In both cases the father is largely hands off with the family besides being the “breadwinner” and we all know that one person (the mother) can not adequately care for 18 children. This has to be absolutely wrecking mentally for the children in the family.
Awesomesauce

Let’s see, they have 18 kids. How many of them will have more than 10 kids of their own?

If all of them have exactly 10 kids, then that’s 180 grandchildren. Provided all of the family members survive to this point, we have a situation where, from a starting point of two existing people, there is a colony of 200 people.

Let’s take the conservative estimate that all 18 kids have an average of 2.5 kids of their own. That still equals 45 grandchildren, hence 65 existing people from a starting point of only two.

I don’t even want to think about what would happen if their pattern of breeding were to continue perfectly for a few more generations. Anybody wanna give a guess as to how many other families would need to go childless to equal neutral population growth?

Let’s hope that genetic engineering can keep up with the increasing world population’s demand for food.
Skeptico

We have:

“The ultimate Christmas gift from God,” said Jim Bob Duggar, the father

But followed by:

She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways

Bit of a joker, this “God”.

Fortunately for this mother we have science, or she would most likely not have survived these 18 deliveries.
llewelly

Jeff Satterley:

I’m surprised by the judgmental comments here.

Use the internet for the first time today, did you?
Awesomesauce

Lol Jeff Satterley,

We should get Hemant to call it Mostly-Friendly Atheist to eliminate any future suprises.
Jeff Satterley

Use the internet for the first time today, did you?

Actually, I comment on this site pretty regularly, and normally the ridicule found here goes out to bigots and truly harmful people who deserve it. I just don’t see the Duggars as being especially heinous, or heinous at all, really.

I guess I agree that have 18 kids is irresponsible, in terms of overpopulation and the environment, but again, there is a lot worse you could do. It is important to note that when they built their home they were environmentally-conscious. You obviously can’t totally negate the effect that 18 people have on the planet, but they are trying.

Also, if its true that 18 children is irresponsible, how many children would be the responsible amount? It seems like anyone having children, rather than adopting children who are already around is the irresponsible thing to do. And again, I can’t, in good conscience, deny anyone reproductive rights, whether they want to use birth control to have one or two children, or not use anything and have 18. It just too arbitrary to select a responsible number of children, and an irresponsible amount.
Justin

Oh, don’t worry. They deserve it, if only for what their reaction assuredly would be if there were an analogous minority family out there. Shrieks of “welfare queen” would drown out any sensible discussion.
anonymouse

someone post the George Carlin “pro-life” video before my head explodes!!

The Duggars are disgusting.
Milena

Jeff Satterley,

Many would argue that the responsible amount of children to have is two max, because that way the couple is simply replacing themselves as part of the population, rather than adding to the population growth. Of course, that is a simplistic way to put it, but I just thought I should throw it out there.
Polly

Geez, I thought only the religious could be so self-righteous and judgmental.
INTJ Mom

Some people can handle a large family, some can’t. If the parents have the temperaments to handle a large family, and they can afford to support them, then I don’t see a problem. I’ve watched a couple of the TV shows, and the father seems pretty involved. I don’t see a problem with older kids helping out with younger ones to a certain extent. I have to agree with Jeff that if you believe in reproductive freedom, it has to go both ways.