Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

[the_idle_threat]

Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/18_kids

By JILL ZEMAN, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 9, 5:25 PM ET

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman — she's pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores — or "jurisdictions" — are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

[Harlan Huckleby]

That reminds me of the "Every Sperm is Sacred" scene from Monty Python. The guy comes home to his family, he opens the door and there are hundreds of kids, some hanging from the curtains and rafters. Before he makes his announcement, he looks around and says, "Michael, where's Michael?"

[red]

i bet its safe to say that she doesn't feel a damn thing anymore when she "gets it"

unless maybe its 18 guys all at the same time in the same hole

[LL2]

That family is nuts, and they are not even part of the FLDS clan.

[red]

That reminds me of the "Every Sperm is Sacred" scene from Monty Python. The guy comes home to his family, he opens the door and there are hundreds of kids, some hanging from the curtains and rafters. Before he makes his announcement, he looks around and says, "Michael, where's Michael?"

i love it when she's doing dishes and one just pops out and he doesn't even flinch

[GBRulz]

I've seen a few documentaries on this family when they were going through the transition of building their new house.

The food pantry alone is probably the size of my garage.

[oregonpackfan]

The "home-schooled" portion caught my attention. While some home-schooled children can receive a quality education, how can the parents give enough guidance and attention to adequately home-school their children?

What kind of job and/or income does the guy have to financially support 18 children?

[GrnBay007]

Hey, to each their own!

My ex sister-in-law came from a family of 15. I spent a lot of time with that family when I was young...with that many kids they don't notice an extra floating around. They were a great family but dang, when everyone was there you about needed earplugs in the house....it was always one trying to talk over the other one. lol

I just wonder how the father supports all these kids financially? The family I spoke about mom stayed home and dad ran his own cement business....extremely hard working man.

[Jimx29]

I'm number 10 out of 15 my Mom had in just over 23 years. No multiples either, just Catholic

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'm number 10 out of 15 my Mom had in just over 23 years. No multiples either, just Catholic

did every sperm turn out to be sacred, or just most of them?

[GBRulz]

The "home-schooled" portion caught my attention. While some home-schooled children can receive a quality education, how can the parents give enough guidance and attention to adequately home-school their children?

What kind of job and/or income does the guy have to financially support 18 children?

You'd be amazed that how organized this family is. They have a schedule and a routine for everything, a big part of which is their home-schooling. She is accredited by the state and from what the show mentioned, the kids score higher on tests than children who attend public schools.

This family is 100% debt-free. The Dad used to be in politics, but he made his money by investing in real-estate. He really doesn't have a normal 9-5 type of job and actually is able to spend alot of time at home.

To each their own. If they want a ton of kids and can financially support them on their own - so be it.

[Scott Campbell]

I'm number 10 out of 15 my Mom had in just over 23 years. No multiples either, just Catholic

The Mormon's call 15 kids a good start to a family.