Duggar Family Struggling to Cope With Pregnancy Loss

Michelle Duggar says that while the family held a memorial service for the fetus she miscarried, her 19 children are struggling to cope with the pregnancy loss.

Duggar, 46, had one previous miscarriage between the births of her first and second children- an incident that soured the Duggar family’s opinion on birth control (as they believed that the use of birth control pills precipitated the first pregnancy loss) and shaped their super-sized family today. But having to explain the recent miscarriage to her children has been difficult, Duggar explains, and she says some of the children are having a difficult time accepting the loss of the child the family named Jubilee.

7-year-old Jackson Duggar, she says, is having a particularly difficult time understanding the miscarriage. His mom explains:

“I told him there is going to be a day when we are going to be together again,. As the days go on, I know we will have time to talk through all this. I have been trying to hold my composure and do what I needed to do, and then be able to grieve.”

But it’s not just the little ones that are having a hard time, Michelle says. Her 20-year-old daughter Jill is training as a midwife, and prior to the miscarriage, had been monitoring the pregnancy. Michelle says:

“[Jill] was crying and weeping last night,” Michelle revealed at a memorial service for the baby in Arkansas on Wednesday. “I hugged her and said, ‘I am holding on, and I am going to let the tears go. We can pray, cry and grieve together in the weeks and days we walk through this… My older girls have been precious to make Momma take care of Momma right now, and Jim Bob has been busy taking care of everything.”

Despite the somber mood, Michelle says, the family has taken time to celebrate five Duggar birthdays that occur in December.