John and Abbie Duggar: Will the Couple Build a Super-Sized Family Like Their Siblings?
John and Abbie Duggar are currently expecting their first baby. Their daughter is due to arrive on January 14, so she could come any day now. The family is excited to welcome their first child.
In John’s family, pregnancies and babies are very important. John’s parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, have 19 children. It seems that several of the adult children in the family are following in Jim Bob and Michelle’s footsteps. So, while John and Abbie aren’t officially parents yet, fans are beginning to get curious about how their family will grow.
Because John comes from a large family, it’s possible that the couple plans on having a large family as well. It’s also worth noting that Abbie got pregnant about six months after the couple got married. So, they might be trying to have as many kids as they can. There are some reasons that John and Abbie might be trying to have a smaller family than the rest of his Duggar siblings.
John and Abbie Duggar got married later in life
At the time of their wedding, John was 28 and Abbie was 26. This isn’t necessarily that late to get married. Plenty of people get married in their late twenties or early thirties.
But, in the Duggar family, some of the adult children get married in their early twenties. Joy-Anna married Austin Forsyth when she was only 19 years old.
Because John and Abbie got married later, they have less time to have children. This will likely impact the number of children they end up having, compared to the rest of the family members.
Abbie might return to nursing
Abbie is doing things a little bit different than the rest of the women in the Duggar family. She’s a nurse, and she wants to go back to work after becoming a mother. The women in the family don’t work outside of the home. They stay home and raise their kids.
Now, John and Abbie have only discussed this and have not made a final decision. But, it seems that John is very supportive of his wife.
Abbie talked to Us Weekly about this, saying, “I’ve got my license transferred over to Arkansas so that I have that availability if I want it. I know I’m planning to keep up my license by doing the continuing education hours. We’ve talked about looking at some options of getting a job. We just haven’t yet. We’ve just really been enjoying being married and traveling a lot this year. So we’ll just keep it as an option and see what happens. … We may wait until our little girl is grown. We’ll just have it as an option if we want or need it.”
Then, John said, “I think [we’ll] wait until the baby’s born before we make any big decisions for us. … Then maybe several months down the road after the baby’s here, we can look at … different places for options for her to even work part-time or something like that.”
Abbie has had a difficult pregnancy
Abbie’s pregnancy hasn’t been easy on her. She was diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. This condition has given her extreme morning sickness throughout her whole pregnancy. She’s even been to the hospital because of it.
John talked about the condition in an interview and said, “It hit her hard, and she was down for probably seven weeks with severe morning sickness. She got diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, and she was hospitalized a couple times. We made multiple visits to the ER for dehydration. … She couldn’t eat, pretty much, or drink, or anything. So she was actually on IVs and had IVs at home. So that was a pretty scary time. I keep her water filled up, and her snacks for her. I keep her eating and just comfortable. Anything I can get for her, I try to. I run to the store, [get] whatever she needs, just keep her as comfortable as possible when she’s feeling bad.”
It’s unclear whether Abbie’s condition will affect how many kids the couple has. They might have fewer children than planned because of it.
How does the Duggar family feel about birth control?
The Duggar family doesn’t advocate for birth control. It’s possible that some of the women in the family are using it. For example, Jill Dillard has two kids. Israel is four years old and Samuel is two years old. She and her husband, Derick, have yet to announce another pregnancy.
Because of Abbie’s difficult pregnancy, she and John might choose to use birth control. They could have fewer kids so that Abbie doesn’t have to deal with her health issues during pregnancy. They could also choose to adopt kids instead of having them biologically.
What do you think about John and Abbie’s future family? Leave a comment below.
