By James Tillman

TONTITOWN, Arkansas, August 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)—Now that their delicate youngest daughter has come home from the hospital, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting” have said that they’re open to having a 20th child.

“Our family is stronger than ever,” Jim Bob, 45, told People magazine. “We made it through the storm.”

Josie Duggar was delivered by emergency C-section at 25 weeks gestation, after Michelle developed pre-eclampsia. She spent more than 5 months at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Arkansas Children’s Hospital. She finally came home to the Duggars’ house on June 25th.

Since her birth, many have criticized the Duggars, saying the family has had enough children. Michelle risks a recurrence of preeclampsia if she gets pregnant again.

“Before we had a heart change about children, I thought it was very strange for people to have more than 3,” Jim Bob said. “We don’t expect people to understand.”

This change of heart came early in Michelle and Jim Bob’s marriage.

Michelle was taking the birth control pill, but got pregnant despite it. Yet after she miscarried between her second and third month, the Duggars’ doctor told them that the miscarriage had probably occurred because she had conceived while still on the pill.

The pro-life Duggars ceased taking the pill, studied the Bible, and decided that God considered children to be gift to be embraced rather than a burden to be avoided.

“People think we are overpopulating the world,” said Jim Bob. “We are following our convictions.”

The Duggars live debt-free in Tontitown, Arkansas, in a home that they built for themselves.

See related stories on LifeSiteNews.com:

Duggar’s 19th Child Born Prematurely

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09121504.html

Family Attacked for Too Many Children: “Thrilled” to be Preparing for Baby Number 19

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09090205.html