Jill Duggar Pregnant? Derick Dillard Responds To ‘Counting On’ Fans’ Speculation

Jill Duggar’s appearance in a Counting On preview has sparked even more speculation that she’s pregnant with her second child. Over the last few months, Counting On fans have flooded Jill’s Instagram page with queries about whether she has a bun in the oven, but she’s kept them in suspense. However, her husband, Derick Dillard, recently decided to put a stop to all the baby talk.

As reported by the Hollywood Gossip, some Duggar fans think that Jill Duggar, Jessa Duggar, and Anna Duggar are all pregnant at the same time. Jessa has already announced that she’s expecting her second child, but Anna and Jill have not responded to the Counting On viewers who think that they both look like they have small baby bumps. Commenters on the Duggar Family News: Life Is Not All Pickles and Hairspray Facebook page began speculating about the possibility of Jill being pregnant after seeing a preview for next Tuesday’s end-of-the-season TLC special.

One Counting On fan finally decided reach out to Derick Dillard via Twitter, and he gave a very straightforward answer when he was asked to address the pregnancy rumors.

“Is Jill Dillard pregnant again?” the fan asked.

“Not yet,” Derick tweeted in response.

During a previous episode of Counting On, Derick told Jill that he believes that she’ll get pregnant by the end of the year, so Jill’s lack of a baby bump definitely isn’t due to a lack of trying for baby number two. However, some fans think that Jill’s difficulty getting pregnant is a blessing in disguise. As the Stir points out, the Zika virus is a major health concern in El Salvador, which is where Jill and Derick work as missionaries. The mosquito-borne illness can be passed on from mothers to their unborn children, and it can cause severe birth defects.

Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard are currently spending a few months back in the States, and Jill talked about how relieved they are to be home in the October 18 episode of Counting On. She said that she was ready to “kiss the ground” upon their arrival, and she was thrilled to be staying close to a group of people she felt comfortable leaving their son alone with. Jill explained that she and Derick never got to enjoy any one-on-one time together in El Salvador because they felt that it would be unsafe to let Israel out of their sight. So as soon as they got the chance, Jill and Derick took advantage of the Duggars’ large crew of experienced babysitters — the grateful couple left Israel with a few of Jill’s sisters and went out on a date to the grocery store.

“We can take a deep breath and feel safe here,” Jill said after she and Derick settled into the Duggar family’s massive guest house.

Jill and Derick also said that it was nice not to worry about being attacked if they went out for a run, and they were excited about being able to leave their house at night. It sounds like living in El Salvador is really stressing Jill Duggar out, and Baby Center reports that stress can make it more difficult for some women to conceive.

“Stress can affect the functioning of the hypothalamus — the gland in the brain that regulates your appetite and emotions, as well as the hormones that tell your ovaries to release eggs. If you’re stressed out, you may ovulate later in your cycle or not at all,” fertility educator Toni Weschler explains.

Jessa Duggar has a different explanation for why Jill isn’t pregnant yet — she just thinks that her sister didn’t inherit their mother’s baby-making gene. Jessa believes that she’s the one who will end up being a birthing machine like Michelle Duggar.

“We were both excited and surprised because Spurgeon was just a little over six-months-old,” Jessa said of how she and husband Ben Seewald responded to her second pregnancy. “For my sister-in-law Anna and my sister Jill, they didn’t get pregnant right off, like ‘Bam!’ And so I guess I’m built more like my mom.”

Do you think Jill Duggar could be having a hard time conceiving due to the stress of living in Central America? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Featured Image by TLC]