Arkansas Family Celebrates 15th Child
May 24, 7:46 PM (ET)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Former state legislator Jim Bob Duggar and his wife Michelle are celebrating the birth of their 15th child. Both the baby and mother were doing well, although Michelle was feeling some discomfort because the birth was her second by Caesarean section, said Jim Bob's mother, Mary Duggar.
"She's a trooper. She's just all smiles," Mary Duggar said in a telephone interview Monday.
The baby boy, Jackson Levi Duggar, was born at 10:52 a.m. Sunday. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and is 20 inches long.
"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.
Home briefly from the hospital later Monday, Jim Bob, 38, sounded a bit tired but happy. 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 labor," he said. "But we both love children. Even yesterday, she said she would like to have some more."
Michelle, 37, 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. He is a real estate businessman and a former state representative.
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.
LINK
