it says so on the discovery.com website. #17

The Duggars : Discovery Health's The Duggars (http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/duggarfamily.html)

ive talked to the dh a few times and he seems really nice, he shared some helpful tips with me about scheduling and clothes and stuff, and a few recipes that use even now. I really love watching this family and getting ideas on how to make my family run more smoothly even though i have no where near as many as they do.

I think they're interesting.

I think she's kinda mean to wean her 6 month old babies just so she can get pregnant, again, but that's my issue, not hers. LOL

I think they're interesting.

I think she's kinda mean to wean her 6 month old babies just so she can get pregnant, again, but that's my issue, not hers. LOL

I do agree with you there, to each his own i figure, i wouldnt want that many kids but that is me, i sometimes can barely handle my life with as many kids i have now, i dont agree with a few things she does but i also will admit i have gotten a few ideas that have helped me run my house. I do wish she would stop having babies though, i think she doesnt know how to stop, kinda like she is addicted but that is just my opinion.

Yeah, I def. agree she's addicted. And, I can understand that (to a degree). Babies are wonderful. Kids are wonderful.

But, I don't want 17 of 'em coming thru my vagina. LOL

:drop:

Maybe she just loves children or is philosophically opposed to birth control.

she's against BC, which is fine with me and i completely understand that, but i do worry about her health didnt she have a few c sections and that many kids cant be good for her calcium levels and her body in general, im not exactly sure what that many pregnancies will do to someones body but its gotta have some adverse reactions, she has babies about every year, id hate to hear that she is in poor health later on in life do to the amount of kids she has had. Id would love to meet them though, ive talked to the father like i said a few times on email and id love to spend a day with them, i barely can handle my family half the time and id love to see how she does it because i know for a fact i couldnt do it. That big of a family is not for me but if she can do it, more power to her.

Wow - I've never heard that about forcibly weaning.

****SHE'S HERE!!**** her name is Jennifer Dannielle and she was born at 10:01 this morning!! Arkansas couple have their 17th child, say they want more - International Herald Tribune (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/02/america/NA-ODD-US-Seventeen-Children.php)



she's against BC, which is fine with me and i completely understand that, but i do worry about her health didnt she have a few c sections and that many kids cant be good for her calcium levels and her body in general, im not exactly sure what that many pregnancies will do to someones body but its gotta have some adverse reactions, she has babies about every year, id hate to hear that she is in poor health later on in life do to the amount of kids she has had. Id would love to meet them though, ive talked to the father like i said a few times on email and id love to spend a day with them, i barely can handle my family half the time and id love to see how she does it because i know for a fact i couldnt do it. That big of a family is not for me but if she can do it, more power to her.

My great-grandmother had 17 (or 18 I forget!!) and she died of old age and was in great health, except she was blind......which eye problems run in our famly anyway.

We know of a family that had 15, and the mom was in great shape! She cried when she realized that she was menopausal and wouldn't have any more!

I don't have a problem with her having 17 (or more) if they are happy and taken care of. They don't have to have everything the world thinks is necessary. Just the basics of life. But, then again, they seem to have plenty!

I think it is great.

She definately has it together better than I do. Personally, I don't know if I could handle labor that many times!! But, I might take them if someone else wants to birth them and hand them over..............and I can have a house like hers :lol: :lol: :lol:

I had never read that she weans at 6mo so that she can be pregnant again. Off to read the article!

ETA: My favorite part: "The Duggars are debt free" I wish I was!! Where is the part that talks about her weaning at 6mo?

So having that many doesnt put our health at risk, well thats good to know, that was my main concern. She seems like a sweet lady and id hate to have her not be healthy later on in life because of having so many little ones.

Congrats to the new mama :) oh and I love the new name, how pretty.


Did anyone watch the show where they built their own house, that was amazing, i would love to do something like that with my kids but i can barely get anyone to help with dishes,lol.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a house like that! I would have no problem with it being a metal house (it was metal, right?). They are really pretty anyway!

They built that giant for what most people have built that is much smaller.

i wont say that everyone can have that many kids safely. Most people (myself included) have crappy diets and aren't very healthy. I think taking care of ourselves is important if our bodies are going to be doing such great work!

I have watched their family specials as well. All very interesting. I found them too late though as I already have "methods" that work for our family. Mind you we don't have nearly as many children as they do! I did notice they use a lot of canned and pre-made foods. I make almost everything myself & up till a last year also made our own bread. So food prep time here probably takes a bit more time.

I never recall hearing or reading that she forced her babies to wean at 6 months in order to get pregnant again. Every woman is different & I know some who exclusively breastfed & were very disappointed to have their periods back at 8 weeks post-partum. Have also known a woman that got pregnant while exclusively nursing and her babies were around one year apart. I ovulated before having a period while nursing my 1 year old so my closest together are 21.5 months apart.

In regards to health. Just like anything else it depends on each person. I know people that after having two children were told it would be detrimental to their health to have any more children, yet they were healthy when not pregnant. Even after 6 pregnancies & 7 babies & at least 4 miscarriages I have never been told by a Dr. that I should have no more children due to medical reasons. I've had them tell me they personally didn't think we should have any more & even had them make an appointment for DH to have a vasectomy, when we didn't ask for one!

We didn't "plan" on having seven children when we were first married. But all of our children were planned, except our last he was a wonderful surprise as we had to work so hard to get pregnant with all of our other children. Wait with the twins we ended up having two babies at once...who plans for that or "tries" for that when conceiving "naturally"!

Dh had told me we had to have all our babies before he turned 30 so just before he turned 30 I had gone in to the Dr. as I had hoped to have 3 children. She suggested weaning Emma, but I didn't want to do that either. A couple of months later I went in to talk to her about it again as she thought perhaps Emma would be weaned by then. She wasn't & much to my delight all our "trying" worked and I was pregnant!! Needless to say my DH changed his rule. We had a sort of "surprise" pregnancy. I told DH I might be ovulating he said, "Okay". We were surprised as I used to only ovulate once or twice a year. I did conceive that night, but miscarried the baby. We then realized that another baby would be lovely and he was still "young" at over 30 years old. So within weeks I was pregnant with my son.

I actually always became pregnant again while I was still nursing. I've been pregnant &/or nursing for 18 years as of September 2nd! Wow!! I am very healthy considering a bunch of stuff my body has had going on. None related to pregnancy. I did hemorage badly after the twins, but it is not unusual with twins & they had a huge single placenta. I am 5ft 4 inches & around 110 lbs. I am always busy on my feet (was good when I had to work outside the home & ended up waiting tables last year!). Plus doing stuff with the kids on nature walks, the park, the beach, horse-back riding, etc. I eat healthy & well and was "blessed" with a high metabolism.

Funny, it is all relative. I have 11 kids in my care 24/7 and though some days its a tad crazy, in general we do pretty well. So many people say to me that they can barely handle the 2 they have & couldn't even imagine 11 kids. Then like today there is an extra friend over & we are babysitting for another little fellow! Our home (only 1800 square feet) is well set up & we have 3 acres with a great yard, 200 feet back from the road & surrounded by forest. I think our surroundings help!!

Well kids all ate earlier & I wasn't hungry, but I am feeling "peckish" so I better grab my dinner now!

Kerri mom to:

Amanda(17), Emma(15), Maddison(13), foster dd(12),
Jonah(10), foster ds(10), Saige & Claire(7, identical twin girls), foster dd(6),
foster ds(5), my little boy Teagan(3) PLUS: 2 horses, 1 pony, 3 dogs, 2
cats, 1bunny rabbit, 4 guinea pigs, 3 rats( one is naked!), 1 teddy bear
hamster & 3 dwarf hamsters & fostering a fuzzy orange tabby
kitten

*************************************

I have been getting a lot of that "I can barely handle the 2 they have & couldn't even imagine 5 kids" lately from people. 98% of the time they ended up saying good for you, that they could only wish they could. Today in the pool(shared pool) an older french lady(I live in a very French area) told me I was doing good by having a lot of babies, that I have to have more. I told her about the Duggars and she told me 17 is a nice number!!

Even though people say things that they don't realize are rude, generally speaking most people are very positive. I do get questions asking if I am on social assitance. If they start going on about us producing more garbage I tell them we produce less than most of our neighbours & they have 2 adults i the family. I go to the dump & the now know that often I come with only recylables & NO garbage at all!!

Often "older" folks do have very positive comments and often share about their large families or families that they knew had lots of kids. Even the guy at the dump is one of 15 children!!