Family celebrates birth of 15th child
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Michelle Duggar is all smiles after delivering her 15th child, but she may be ready for more, her family says.
Mother and child were doing well, although Michelle, 37, was feeling some discomfort because the birth was her second by caesarean section, said her mother-in-law, Mary Duggar. "She's a trooper. She's just all smiles," Mary Duggar said. Jackson Levi Duggar was born at 10:52 a.m. Sunday, weighing seven pounds eight ounces.
"She was wanting to do it naturally," Mary Duggar said. But the delivery was by C-section because one of Jackson's shoulders was presenting first.
"I call him Jumping Jack because he would go in a circle," she said.
The baby's father, former state legislator Jim Bob Duggar, sounded a bit tired but happy after returning home Monday. He said his wife and new son were doing fine. He said he leaves the decision up to Michelle on whether to have more children.
"I have always left it up to Michelle because she's actually the one that carries them and does all the labour," he said. "But we both love children. Even yesterday, she said she would like to have some more."
Michelle probably will be in Washington Regional Medical Center for three or four days, said her mother-in-law, who is taking care of the 14 other children.
Michelle, who home schools her children and is helping to build the family's new home in Tontitown from the ground up, started having her babies when she was 21, four years after she and Jim Bob married. Her 38-year-old husband is a real estate businessman.
Their children include two sets of twins, and the parents have stuck to the letter "J" for their names. There is Joshua, 16; Jana and John-David, 14; Jill, 13; Jessa, 11; Jinger, 10; Joseph, 9; Josiah, 7; Joy-Anna, 6; Jeremiah and Jedidiah, 5; Jason, 4; James, 2; and Justin, 1.
