Jessa Duggar-Seewald Exercised While She Was In Labor

Jessa Duggar-Seewald is the proud mom of her first child, a boy she named Spurgeon Elliot, and she and husband Ben have been in new-parent bliss since early November. But labor didn’t come easily for Jessa–she hasn’t, after all, gone through it 19 times, like her mom, Michelle–and as soon as she felt the first of her contractions, she decided to speed things along by exercising.

Yes, that’s right — Jessa didn’t want to sit back and relax while she was in painful labor. The reality star said she had to be proactive throughout the process, likely because she was already four days past her due date.

“If you’re going to try to have a baby, just do it. I mean, don’t mosey on down the trail at a snail’s pace! Power walk it. Walk the baby out!” Jessa said on a recent episode of Jill & Jessa: Counting On.

Jessa hit the trail with some of her family members in tow–including her husband–and after about an hour of walking, she was ready.

These days, Jessa and Ben are busy learning the ins and outs of having a newborn, but they seem to be doing well. Jessa has shared several adorable photos on Instagram of little Spurgeon, including some of him in his Christmas outfit.

Jessa and her family have been in the headlines quite a bit in 2015, between brother Josh’s sex abuse scandal and his admission that he cheated on his wife, Anna, and was addicted to pornography. With that came the cancellation of the family’s show, 19 Kids And Counting, but Jill and Jessa are now featured on their own spinoff, and the spotlight is often on them, especially since they both got married and gave birth within months of each other. In fact, some professionals are of the opinion that the young women shouldn’t have attempted home births–both Jill and Jessa started things out at home but had to be taken to the hospital after bleeding too heavily–despite the fact that several of the Duggar girls studied to be midwives.

“Jessa Duggar Seewald and Jill Duggar Dillard are two, young healthy women who planned homebirths. They were about as low risk as low risk can be, yet, in an object lesson for homebirth advocates, both had to be rescued by obstetricians. They trusted birth and birth nearly killed them,” wrote Dr. Tuteur, an obstetrician who has not treated either woman.

Although Jessa has so many brothers and sisters and grew up helping out at home, she says it’s totally different when the baby is your own. The reality star said recently that she thought she would be able to sleep when the baby sleeps, but, like most new moms, she has anxiety about leaving him alone.

“I thought I’d sleep at night, but I hear him breathe or something and I take out a flashlight and shine it on his face to make sure he’s okay. You never realize the responsibility of being a parent until you have a baby yourself,” Jessa said.

The various scandals revolving around the Duggar family have rocked them hard, and fans have wondered for months what they’ll do for income since their show got cancelled. Anna Duggar has reportedly moved in with Jim Bob and Michelle while Josh is at a Christian school in Illinois, receiving treatment and therapy for his sex addiction, and a source at the Daily Mail says that the Duggar family plane was spotted in the area on Christmas Day, although it’s unclear which family members were visiting that day.

[Image via Jessa Duggar]