Why Fans Are Terrified of the Duggar Family’s Home Birthing Tradition
We’ve been keeping up with the Duggar family since their early days on 19 Kids and Counting. And even as the oldest Duggars have aged and started their own families and the youngest ones are growing up fast, we still love to see what they’re going to do next. From their bizarre courting rules to antiquated dress code, the family is wrapped up in many of their own traditions they’d never stray from — even if the tradition proves to be dangerous.
As fans know, most of the pregnant Duggar women choose to have home births for a more comfortable delivery atmosphere. But after so many complications, many fans are concerned this tradition could end catastrophically. Here’s why.
Michelle Duggar has consistently had complications with her births over the years
There’s no doubt Michelle is a strong woman for giving birth to 19 kids, but she’s certainly had complications on the way — and it’s these complications that worried fans that the other Duggar women may experience them as well. While the famous mom has needed multiple C-sections over the years, we can’t forget about her most difficult birth to date, Josie. Josie was born back in 2010, CBS News reminds us — but she was a micro-preemie born at just 25 weeks.
During her pregnancy, Michelle developed a gallstone and preeclampsia, or dangerously high blood pressure. In an interview with CBS, she noted that she also had preeclampsia with her first set of twins 20 years prior, too. In the case of Josie, she had to have an emergency C-section because of the condition. And the birth was worrying for Michelle and almost resulted in Josie’s death, the mom still insisted she’d have more kids if she were able.
Jill and Joy-Anna both needed emergency C-sections
With Michelle’s history of difficult births, it would make sense for the Duggar women to deliver in a hospital — but many still insisted on keeping tradition alive. With that said, it resulted in multiple medical emergencies, particularly in the cases of Jill and Joy-Anna. Jill told People that the birth of her first son, Israel, “didn’t go as expected.” Her water didn’t break until she was 41 weeks pregnant and ended up laboring for 70 hours. At 20 hours, she decided to move things to the hospital, though — but she declined the medication that would speed up the process while there. While in labor, the baby also moved into transverse breech position, requiring an emergency C-section.
Joy-Anna also said she “decided to have a home birth, just because I know that it’s more comfortable being at home,” People reports. “I really wanted to at least try it, and we’re only about 30 minutes from the hospital, so it’s not too bad in case of an emergency or a change of plans,” she explained in a TLC special. Unfortunately, like Jill, her baby was also breech, and she had to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section.
Jessa had to be rushed to the hospital for excessive bleeding
Jessa did actually successfully deliver a baby at home — but it was the aftermath that required her to head to the hospital. People reports Jessa had 10 hours of painful contractions with her first child. And though she wanted to give up and move to the hospital, she stuck it out. Scarily enough, after the birth, her midwife became very concerned with how much Jessa was bleeding.
Michelle called an ambulance for her daughter, and Jessa nearly passed out from the blood loss. When she got to the hospital, Jessa had to undergo an emergency blood transfusion and stay there overnight.
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