Michelle Duggar, mother of 19 and star of the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” has suffered a miscarriage, Duggar and her husband Jim Bob announced on the family's website.
“We rest in knowing that even though our child has departed this life that we will one day see each other again in heaven,” the couple wrote.
Said Jim Bob in a seperate statement, "Michelle is resting comfortably at home with the support of the entire family."
The couple, whose extensive progeny makes the Duggar household the largest in the United States, learned the bad news during a checkup to discover the baby's gender. According to the attending physician, Michelle miscarried at some point in the second trimester.
Said Michelle, 45, to People Magazine, “"After the appointment, we came back home and told the children.”
"We had just been talking about baby names last night and they were getting excited about naming a boy or a girl. It has been a real sad disappointment."
The couple says it will name the child, once the gender is determined. They also plan to conduct a funeral.
Said Michelle, “The Lord is the giver of life and he can choose when that life is ready to go on and be with Him."
The miscarriage is not the couple's first. According to People, Michelle's second pregnancy ended similarly. Because Michelle was at the time taking oral contraceptives, the Duggars decided thereafter to forsake birth control, leaving the number of children they would have “up to God.”
