US Family Finally Leave Hospital With 19th Child

US Family Finally Leave Hospital With 19th Child

I feel exhausted just reading about them, but the Duggar family – famous in America for the number of children they have – are finally leaving hospital with child number 19.

The youngest member of the family from Arkansas, Josie Brooklyn, is another step closer to going home after a four-month stay in a neonatal intensive care unit.

She finally left hospital on 6 April but is currently staying with her parents in a rented house close to the hospital.Her mother Michelle said: "We are so happy. We are so excited we are running on adrenalin."

According to a family spokesman their return home will be delayed from between a week to a month. Waiting there to greet Josie will be the youngest Duggar children – Jackson, 5, Johanna, 4, Jennifer, 2, and Jordyn, 15 months.

They have never seen her and "are jumping up and down that they will finally get to meet their baby sister," Michelle told People.com.

Josie was born three months early on December 10, weighing just 1 pound 6 ounces and survived a bowel perforation at eight days old.

Her physician, Dr Robert Arrington, said she now weighed 4 pounds and 9 ounces, was breathing without oxygen, eating every three hours and was stable enough to go home.

"I will be her main caregiver," Michelle said, "and we'll have a lot of helpers around to take turns feeding her and getting her to sleep."

Michelle and Jim Duggar have been controversial figures in America thanks to the size of their family. They are members of a Christian movement called Quiverful, which believes all children should be welcomed as they are a gift from God, there should be no sex before marriage, and that women are subordinate to men.

The couple have their own reality TV show called "19 Kids and Counting", which gives a fascinating peek into how they organise their children, whose first names all begin with the letter J.

They have nine girls and ten boys, with the eldest aged 21, and have just become grandparents for the first time. You might think they would call a halt to the baby making after the health problems experienced by their youngest, but I guess their religious beliefs mean they will still welcome additions.

What do you think – it's time to call a halt or do you think "good luck to them"?

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