Michelle Duggar Miscarries: ‘I Feel Like My Heart Broke Telling My Children’
Reading this article got me thinking. Michelle Duggar lost baby #20. Twenty. I was never into their reality show – 19 Kids and Counting. I’ll be honest. It creeped me out. I figured, “Whatever. As long as they’re not on welfare, it’s their business.”
I still believe that. I heard their last baby, Josie (#19), had health problems when she was born. Now, she had a miscarriage. Michelle is 45. Egg quality decreases with age, and the potential problems increase. I’m sure they know this, but why they do they keep at it?
They are part of Quiverfull, a growing movement among Evangelical Christians. They believe that children are a gift from God and that people shouldn’t limit the number with birth control. I definitely agree with the former. I don’t know about the latter. What if you can’t afford them? Or just simply don’t want them. I suppose those people wouldn’t be in Quiverfull anyway.
Why do I care? It’s the miscarriage thing. And their last baby with health problems. Will they keep taking that risk? What if she keeps miscarrying? Maybe that’s God’s way of telling her it’s time to close up shop. I’m also approaching this story with my own belief that the world is overpopulated, but that’s a whole other topic.
I don’t know. All of this was just on my mind tonight when I read this story.
What do you think?
December 9th, 2011 at 1:37 AM
i have a couple of thoughts:
1. if you don’t want your kids to be heartbroken (and i doubt that they were), then don’t tell them you’re pregnant, especially when it’s early in the pregnancy, when you’re 45, and when you’ve already had a problem pregnancy.
2. having and raising children is not a spectator sport. it’s not a game show. there’s no reason that having a lot of children should be applauded, and there is definitely no reason for asswipes who can’t keep their knees together or their dinkies in their own pants to be on television.
December 12th, 2011 at 9:46 PM
Definitely on the keeping it under wraps. However, they’re so into having kids she’s probably used to shouting it from the rooftops the moment the stick turns blue.
Amen on the game show.
December 9th, 2011 at 2:35 AM
nonnie, well said and excellent advice!
December 9th, 2011 at 3:58 AM
Part of it too may be that they have gotten caught up in the public notoriety and she feels there are these expectations she has to meet. How sad if that’s the case
December 9th, 2011 at 10:14 AM
Yeah. I don’t watch any of this kind of dribble, but isn’t the name of the show “19 Brats AND COUNTING” That’s more than just a little pressure to (re)produce.
December 9th, 2011 at 4:30 AM
I think their lives ARE their own busniess – IF THEY”RE NOT ON TV!!
They need to go away, far, far away and stop poisoning the already polluted television landscape.
December 12th, 2011 at 9:47 PM
Good point, Hook – “If they’re not on TV.” They put themselves out there.
December 9th, 2011 at 4:55 AM
I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, making a TV show about it as though we all perch on our chairs anxiously awaiting the next child to be born – is distasteful and crass. Obviously, the TV show helps pay for tons of diapers and the grocery bill.
I try not to care or to be judgmental about their lifestyle. I try. However, when this woman starts to have children with health problems, which require intensive hospital care and treatment, then I take issue. She burdens an already burdened health care system. Thousands of dollars are spent to keep preemies alive, thousands more are spent when babies grow into serious health issues that last a lifetime. If this family can pay out of pocket for those problems, fine. But if they aren’t, then I’m less than thrilled for her fertile womb.
December 10th, 2011 at 3:36 PM
From what I gather about her last pregnancy, she had gall bladder issues and the child was born premature. Those are two things that happen quite often to a lot of people for a lot of different reasons, so I don’t fault her for ignoring those issues and attempting another pregnancy. There was no indication that there would be a problem this time.
As far as the burden on the health system, that may be true but it’s not a real concern for me because the family makes more than enough money to pay the cost themselves. Secondly, limiting your life because you’re worried about overpopulation or burdening society can lead to cost containment strategies that are completely immoral. (One doesn’t necessarily follow the other, but it’s definitely possible and it’s something we need to keep an eye on.)
Personally, I don’t like the show. My wife watches it and seems to like it, but I despise it. In my own opinion, 19 kids is enough. But that’s my opinion. As long as their actions are not causing harm to other people, I see no problem with their prolificacy.
I do think, given their pro-life views, that if medical science discovers a reason why she miscarried and it’s something that cannot be treated, she and her husband would be hypocrites if they continued to try, knowing it’s quite likely the child will not survive the pregnancy. Then it’s like their playing Russian roulette with the child’s life, and if the condition is bad enough, with her own life, too.
Other than that, I just have to say that I don’t like any reality T.V. show outside of Jeopardy!!
December 10th, 2011 at 7:53 PM
By “limiting your life,” I mean to suggest your freedom to do what you want, so long as you are causing harm to nobody else. In literal terms, if you don’t take care of yourself and worry about certain things, you are actually limiting your life. Mrs. Duggard may in fact be doing this if she continues down this path, seeing as though it appears now her reproductive system is waving the white flag (wonderful image). But that’s a decision for her to make. This is a free country. People should act responsibly even when not required by law, but the decision to do so is yours.
As Ron Paul said in the GOP debate tonight, and perhaps the only thing anyone said that I agree with, “You shouldn’t have government saving you from yourself.”
December 12th, 2011 at 9:51 PM
People should act responsibly even when not required by law, but the decision to do so is yours.
Very nice.
And I agreed with Ron Paul on that too.
December 12th, 2011 at 9:39 PM
You’re definitely right about the money to pay for stuff – a la Kate + 8. I do think they should be setting aside money for therapy too.
“Less than thrilled for her fertile womb” – OK now that cracked me up.
December 9th, 2011 at 4:59 AM
As long as they have an income stream from the show, she may try again. Then again, one of the kids could pick up torch. … and no matter what, I will continue not to watch.
December 12th, 2011 at 9:41 PM
Good point – maybe the income stream is dependent on the baby.
Yeah I’m not into it.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:45 AM
I literally gag at all these real-life freakshows that litter the TV dial now. They’ve got
circus midgetslittle people, tattooed freaks and even little tattoed freaks who drive trucks on ice-roads full of cargo looted by storage warriors. Now they got “sister wives” and stacks unrepentant breeders who are out to single-handedly overpopulate this already overpopulated planet. What? Nobody ever see The Trouble With Tribbles episode of the original Star Trek?People talk about Hollywood pushing a liberal agenda and trying to “normalize” deviant, anti-social, behaviour. One wonders when people are going to start looking at these shows and see conservatives pushing their agendas. You created your Squadron for God, lady. Mission accomplished. Put a cork in it already. But no, $50 says these people will keep trying even in the nursing home. Look for “90 by 90″, coming soon to yet another useless channel near you.
These kind of shows only increase my support for requiring a licence before being allowed to reproduce.
December 12th, 2011 at 9:53 PM
You created your Squadron for God, lady. Mission accomplished. Put a cork in it already.
I shouldn’t be laughing, but I am.
December 9th, 2011 at 12:08 PM
I have a friend whose sister is in the quiverfull movement – they have 5 kids, she’s homeschooling, and they are trying to live off 1 salary, and not always succeeding. The whole thing is tragic to me.
In an overpopulated world, with resources dwindling – one person with 19 children is more about the American obsession with excess than any sort of religious piety. God has put children all over the world who need parents, food, and love — if the Duggars can afford a litter – why not help some of them?
I agree and value what Nonnie says — Life is not a game show.
December 9th, 2011 at 12:40 PM
I know next to nothing about these nut-jobs. But to me, the very name “Quiverfull” implies that these children (not to mention the female vagina) are considered mere weapons of some kind of culture war.
December 10th, 2011 at 2:53 PM
It comes from a scripture in the book of Psalms
Psalm 127:3-5
3 Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
And yes – the basic idea is that your children were the “arrows” you keep to protect you and shoot into the world. At at a time when life expectancy was 30 and they were a nomadic culture – this idea made sense. Now, it’s just a tragic literal reading of ancient poetry with disastrous results.
December 9th, 2011 at 6:45 PM
i was sad when i heard she miscarried. i was also sad when i heard that kim and kris went kaput. klearly, i have issues and probably need to think about why this sh*t makes me sad.
(formerly amillionblogs.) : )
December 12th, 2011 at 9:55 PM
Hey lady! How’s it going?? As far as Kim and Kris, that wasn’t as short as Britney’s but pretty close. Oh well.
December 10th, 2011 at 12:30 AM
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December 10th, 2011 at 6:51 AM
I never heard of the Duggar family until just recently; and they have a TV show??? Is the show all about the parents fucking their brains out in front of the kids ?
December 12th, 2011 at 8:08 AM
With 19 kids, there probably isn’t a single room in the house without at least one pair of eyes watching. The mechanical room maybe?
December 12th, 2011 at 9:56 PM
No, but there might be a Skinemax version.
December 18th, 2011 at 8:34 AM
Yikes! I have never watched the show, not even sure I knew it existed – BUT the whole concept (no pun intended) is repulsive to me. It sounds more like a game show than a reality show. Quiverfull? I mean really!!! Yes children are a gift – from God, from your love of another person (hopefully) and as any good gift or thing, too much is just too much. I agree that if this is what they want to do in their private lives, well then God bless them and I DO HOPE they have the money to feed, clothe and educate them all. There certainly shouldn’t be any gold stars or merit badges for reproduction. I am just as suspect of an organization such as Quiverfull as I am when I see a Hasidic Jewish family with 5 kids in tow and another obviously on its way. Reproduction for population increase alone is a disturbing thought to me. Of course in the case of Hassids, since they usually marry only within their own sect, I guess they need to keep producing. This is NOT an anti-Semetic remark – I am married to a Jewish man and I live in NYC where everyone comes from somewhere other than than yourself and as a New Yorker I celebrate diversity.
However, the magical gift of reproduction doesn’t mean that you should turn yourself into a one-woman factory with a one-woman production line.
December 18th, 2011 at 10:26 PM
However, the magical gift of reproduction doesn’t mean that you should turn yourself into a one-woman factory with a one-woman production line.
That pretty much says it right there. That many pregnancies would be very, very hard on a woman’s body.