# 18 Kids and Counting becomes 19 Kids and Counting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576 "2009-09-02T00:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/1 "2009-09-02T00:30:45Z")
Michelle Duggar is expecting her [19th](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090901/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd19_kids) child. She’s also going to be a grandmother next month when Josh and Anna’s first child is due next month. Am I a bad person for thinking “Gee, wouldn’t it be funny if this time she had triplets or quads”? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/2 "2009-09-02T01:32:00Z")
Am I a bad person for thinking of the menstruation scene in _Carrie_? ‘Plug it up! Plug it up! Plug it up!’ ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/3 "2009-09-02T01:41:59Z")
The headline states that she was surprised to find out she is pregnant. . . WTF? You’d think she’d be used to it by now! ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/4 "2009-09-02T01:45:55Z")
[This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P59ha9k9s) seems appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/5 "2009-09-02T01:47:35Z")
Their reality show is a train wreck I can’t look away from. The married son is so unbelievably sheltered and immature, and the Dad is seriously quite stupid. I mean he just doesn’t “get” the simplest things, and then he guffaws as if to suggest that whoever is trying to explain it is the crazy one. Stiil, I have to say the kids are clean well mannered and responsible. I do wonder how all these folks who are home-schooled and never go to college will earn a living. Especially if they all intend have big families. Imagine, if they each had only five children, that’ll be 19kids +19spouses+95grandkids+Mom & Dad = 135 people at the family reunion. Yikes! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/6 "2009-09-02T01:53:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Imagine, if they each had only five children, that’ll be 19kids +19spouses+95grandkids+Mom & Dad = 135 people at the family reunion. Last count, my extended family (Gramma and Granpap, plus all their descendants and spouses of descendants) were up to 108, and there’s no reality shows about us. We don’t have reunions; we have weddings (though you never get absolutely _everyone_ showing up). I will grant that it does make wedding receptions a bit frustrating, since it’s so hard to find anyone you’re not related to to ask to dance. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/7 "2009-09-02T01:56:24Z")
I believe Bill Maher said it best, “It’s a vagina, not a clown car.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/8 "2009-09-02T02:02:22Z")
She’s surprised that she’s pregnant again when she doesn’t use any birth control? Why is that surprising? It would be a lot more surprising to go more than a year and a half without getting knocked up. And am I a terrible person for wondering if they’ll suddenly believe in birth control after having a DS baby? She’s already 42, how much longer will they be able to tempt faith? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/9 "2009-09-02T02:09:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Last count, my extended family (Gramma and Granpap, plus all their descendants and spouses of descendants) were up to 108, and there’s no reality shows about us. We don’t have reunions; we have weddings (though you never get absolutely _everyone_ showing up). > > I will grant that it does make wedding receptions a bit frustrating, since it’s so hard to find anyone you’re not related to to ask to dance. Well, for a family reunion, no, not so big. But for thanksgiving/Christmas, or other yearly events? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/10 "2009-09-02T02:18:38Z")
Everybody come up with two more names that start with **J** ; one for a boy and one for a girl. > [@](#): > > Joshua, Jana, John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, and Jordyn-Grace I nominate Jürgen and Josephine. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/11 "2009-09-02T02:28:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, for a family reunion, no, not so big. But for thanksgiving/Christmas, or other yearly events? Oh, for Christmas, there’s not generally more than 30 or so. The family’s scattered across the country (the two biggest branches are in Texas and California), and most of them don’t travel all the way home to Pennsylvania for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Gcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gcat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/12 "2009-09-02T10:06:37Z")
I’ve never seen the show, but once I heard about it I had to wonder. Do these parent’s have a mental illness? To keep having kids, is this some kind of obsession or hoarding thing? I should watch the show and try to see for myself, but I don’t like most reality shows. Even the ones I will watch when I flipping through channels, I don’t watch much, usually just the end. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/13 "2009-09-02T11:19:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Do these parent’s have a mental illness? To keep having kids, is this some kind of obsession or hoarding thing? The Duggars are part of the **QuiverFull** movement which means to produce as many children as humanly possible to raise up a Christian Army to displace the secular culture. [http://www.babble.com/Gods-Army-For-the-Quiverfull-movement-a-huge-family-isnt-just-a-blessing-its-a-way-to-change-the-political-landscape/](http://www.babble.com/Gods-Army-For-the-Quiverfull-movement-a-huge-family-isnt-just-a-blessing-its-a-way-to-change-the-political-landscape/) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/14 "2009-09-02T12:58:57Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > She’s surprised that she’s pregnant again when she doesn’t use any birth control? Why is that surprising? It would be a lot more surprising to go more than a year and a half without getting knocked up. > > And am I a terrible person for wondering if they’ll suddenly believe in birth control after having a DS baby? She’s already 42, how much longer will they be able to tempt faith? I read a news article about it yesterday. She was surprised because so little time had passed between her last birth and her new pregnancy. Also, as you pointed out her age, she thought it would be even less likely for her to get pregnant (and so soon after one birth!). As to your second paragraph, that topic is a bit touchy for me, but you do realize that people keep having kids after having one with DS, right? > [@](#): > > The age of the mother is the only factor that has been shown to increase the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome. This risk increases with every year, especially after the mother is 35 years of age. However, because younger women are more likely to have babies than older women, 80% of babies with Down syndrome are born to women younger than 35 years of age. From [CDC on Down Syndrome](http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/DownSyndrome.htm#WhatWeKnow). Because I’m getting tired of hearing that comment. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/15 "2009-09-02T13:44:34Z")
If you watched her buying stuff for baby #18, she made it sound like she thought that might be the last baby. She was buying _new_ stuff, this for a kid that would have so many hand-me-downs, and the Duggars uaually shop thrift stores. But Michelle said, “you know, this might be the last one. I’d like her to have something special.” Maybe it had to do with being pregnant at the same time as her daughter-in-law. Anyway, I don’t have a problem with the Duggars having as many kids as they want. The kids are clean and healthy and seem to be happy. The Duggars aren’t in debt and aren’t on public assistance. I have no kids of my own, but I have 42 first cousins. My mother had 7 kids in 6 years (2 sets of twins), and fully expected to have kids right up to the last minute. The last minute in her case was cancer, not menopause. StG ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/16 "2009-09-02T15:07:45Z")
I’m terrible - all I can imagine is golf pencils and mine shafts. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/17 "2009-09-02T15:11:40Z")
As an educated Atheist from up north, I really, really want to dislike the Duggars, but I have to admit they seem genuinely nice, good parents, and hard workers. I don’t agree with their views, but I respect them. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/18 "2009-09-02T15:39:12Z")
I give them a lot fo credit for traveling with their kids and exposing them to other mindsets. This is not at all typical of “Quiverful” families. They also treat other ways of thinking very respectfully. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/19 "2009-09-02T18:10:27Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Michelle Duggar is expecting her [19th](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090901/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd19_kids) child. She’s also going to be a grandmother next month when Josh and Anna’s first child is due next month. My father-in-law had an uncle younger than he was, but it was unusual even back then. He got into trouble for making the claim to his teacher. Never heard of a great-nephew older than his great-uncle, but this family has what it takes to bring it off. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576/20 "2009-09-02T18:14:16Z")
As Borat said, “her vagine is like sleeve of wizard” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-kids-and-counting-becomes-19-kids-and-counting/508576.md?page=2)