Jill Duggar Assures Baby Samuel Is Healthy After Husband, Derick Dillard, Shocked Fans With Hospital Photo

Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard greeted their second baby son this past July. Most of the births in the Duggar family are usually met with fanfare and big Facebook and Instagram announcements, but for little Samuel, they held off on making public statements. Later, Counting On fans found out that the baby experienced medical difficulties and continued to have small issues throughout the first months of his life.

This was confirmed when Jill’s husband posted a picture of baby Samuel hooked up to IVs and machines on Instagram last week. To celebrate his mother’s birthday, Derick posted a slideshow of pictures of Cathy Dillard with his children. One of them was taken when Samuel was in the hospital, a few weeks after his birth.

“What happened to little Samuel when he was born?” A fan asked in the comment section of the picture.

“[S]peaking as a nurse, they should never put in a tube to suction fluid out of the lungs and leave it in,” another noted. “Unless he’s intubated and it’s part of the closed system, but he’s definitely not intubated.”

However, Jill Duggar quickly took to her Instagram to show that their baby boy is doing just fine now. Despite the fact that his delivery was difficult and that he faced some medical complications, he is growing up to be a healthy, beautiful boy.

“Sam is such a beautiful little boy,” a fan commented. “Love those big blue eyes.”

“So cute,” another wrote. “I think he looks just like his daddy as a baby on that old photo with his mommy!”

“He such a cute little guy,” a fan chimed in. “His face is so sweet.”

Many changes took place with the arrival of Samuel Dillard. Not only did the Dillards decide to let go of their missionary work abroad, but they also found themselves eliminated from Counting On, a Duggar family reality TV show that airs on TLC. Considering that Jill launched the show with her younger sister, Jessa, the fact that she will not be on the show this coming season marks a big change.

The main reason why TLC decided to cut ties with Jill’s husband was due to his transphobic comments directed at Jazz Jennings, a star of another TLC reality TV show, I Am Jazz.

“We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in Counting On for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future,” the network announced on Twitter. “We want to reiterate that Derick’s personal statements do not reflect the views of the network. TLC is proud to share the story of Jazz Jennings and her family and will continue to do so.”

Samuel Scott Dillard was born on July 8, 2017, in northwestern Arkansas.