Michelle Duggar has suffered a second trimester miscarriage. She learned the sad news during a scheduled ultrasound appointment Thursday morning that was supposed to reveal the sex of her twentieth child.
The Arkansas family posted this statement on their TLC website:
The Duggars have made their faith-based family life an open book on the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting. Viewers have witnessed the highs and lows of Jim Bob Duggar and his family. The birth of their last five children have been featured on television specials.
Michelle Duggar, 45, has revealed that the family will name the baby once they know whether it was a boy or girl, and they plan to have a funeral service.
She shared, “I feel like my heart broke telling my children. They have all been so excited about this baby and looking forward to April coming around and having a new little one in our arms. That was the most difficult. The Lord is the giver of life and he can choose when that life is ready to go on and be with Him.”
The entire family journeyed to Europe and Israel for a three week summer vacation that became a TLC special that recently aired in three segments.
Michelle and her daughter Jill remained in the Middle East for an extra six days with youngest daughter Josie Brooklyn when she became too ill to travel. The rest of the family packed up and headed back to the U.S.
Josie Brooklyn will celebrate her second birthday on Friday. She arrived on December 10, 2009, weighing 1 lb. 6 oz. She remained in the NICU for nearly 5 months in Little Rock. The entire family relocated to be together during that challenging period of their life that was chronicled by TLC.
UPDATE: Michelle Duggar has revealed additional details. She was 19 weeks and 1 day into her pregnancy yesterday, when a blood test showed that her progesterone levels had dropped. An ultrasound revealed that the fetus measured at 16 weeks. Her daughter Jill, who is studying to become a midwife, last listened to the baby’s heartbeat on November 25.
Michelle said, “On Dec. 3, I felt a little uncomfortable but I thought it was just something I’d eaten. It could have been the beginning of something going wrong.”
The doctors have advised her to rest at home and let mother nature allow the miscarriage to occur without using medications to cause the uterus to contract. She is following that recommendation.
Photo: WENN