'A Surprise Delivery' Recap

Counting On "A Surprise Delivery"

• While most of the Duggars are in Tennessee at Carlin Bates’ wedding, they receive a text from Ben saying that Jessa’s water has broken. After Jim Bob drops them off at the airport, Josiah and Lauren fly Michelle and Jana back to Arkansas in one of the planes (the “slower” plane).
• “As the mom and the grandma, I really want to be there to assist and be of help when my girls are in labor,” says Michelle.
• “Our birth plan all along through this pregnancy had been to have a hospital birth with a midwife, but the morning that I went into labor, my midwife had left town for the week, so we called a backup midwife, and she came to the house,” explains Jessa. “We’ve done two home births in the past, and I actually love and prefer home births.”
• This particular plane doesn’t have air conditioning, and it’s about 90 degrees. Partway through the flight, Michelle starts throwing up, so Josiah stops for gas and a bathroom break at a tiny airport in the middle of nowhere. “I don’t do well in turbulence,” says the Duggar mom. “I tend to have a sensitive stomach when it comes to motion. Then you add to that heat, and it was quite an awful flight for me.”
• Back in Arkansas, Jill is at the Seewald house with Jessa and Ben helping with labor. Certified Professional Midwife Teresa arrives with her assistant.
• By 5:00, it has been about nine hours since Jessa’s water broke, and she is in active labor and ready to push. Jessa listens to praise music to calm her. Ivy is born on the Seewalds’ couch.
• “Holding a newborn baby for the first time, there’s just this flood of emotions, and I always cry,” says Jessa.
• Post-birth, Jessa is bleeding too much, which is a problem that she had with Spurgeon. At the sight of a big gush of blood, Ben decides to call the paramedics, and Jessa agrees. Jessa is taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and Ben joins her with the baby.
• “It’s standard in the hospital setting for every woman to have two bags of Pitocin, whether or not she needs it, after delivery to help her uterus clamp down and stop bleeding, and I guess I’m one of those women who benefits from that.” Before long, Jessa is feeling much better.
• Ben’s parents bring Spurgeon and Henry to the hospital to meet their sister, and the airplane group arrives soon after.
• Lauren cries as she holds Ivy. Her miscarried baby, Asa, was due on the same day. “I was actually kind of scared to hold the baby,” says Lauren. “I didn’t want to cry, but it’s just too much emotions. It was very hard for me, but it was definitely healing to hold Ivy.”
• Jessa stays overnight at the hospital with Ivy. When the rest of the Duggars return home, they all come over to the Seewalds’ house to meet the new addition. Looking at Ivy’s bow, Spurgeon remarks, “If you take her band off, it’ll be a boy.”
• When the family arrives, Grandma Duggar holds Ivy first because Ivy was born on Grandma’s 78^th birthday.
• When John and Abbie return from a mission trip to the Philippines, Jana goes over to their house to bring flowers from the garden party, which Abbie missed. “I do feel a little bit of a special connection to Jana, just because she’s John’s twin, and twins have this thing that basically nobody else gets,” says Abbie. Jana laughs, claiming that she and John can read each other’s minds.
• Abbie is laying on the couch when Jana comes by. Abbie tells her that she is eight weeks pregnant and is due the week of Jana and John’s 30th birthday (January 12, 2020). Jana is thrilled. “Morning sickness has hit me pretty hard,” says Abbie, who has been admitted to the hospital a couple times due to dehydration.
• “It’s definitely hard watching Abbie in pain and just wishing I could take it away,” says John.
• In Laredo, Jinger is at the hair salon getting blonde balayage (highlights that look more natural and require less maintenance). Jeremy says he is on board with the decision.
• Michelle and the four oldest Duggar daughters share their thoughts on the hairstyles that they experimented with as young adults:
• Jana: “Growing up, I think we all had a similar hairstyle. I did peroxide in my hair one time, and it turned yellow, yellow blonde.”
• Michelle: “And we were all like, ‘What happened to your hair?’ It was awful. She was like, ‘I don’t know why I did that and tried it without asking!’”
• Jessa: “I think that kind of intimidated some of us other girls from branching out and doing anything to our hair.”
• Jinger: “We would get perms, and we would perm each other’s hair. Yes I had a perm, no I did not need it because I had naturally curly hair. Why I did it, I don’t know. I think it was kind of the fad. So everyone was getting a perm, so I got a perm.”
• Why do the Duggars all have long hair? “I think there’s some style preference and some personal conviction, but overall, long hair, I think we’ve just always read in the Scriptures that it’s a glory for a woman to have long hair,” says Michelle. “But I think, each one will have to come to their place when they become an adult.”
• Back at the Vuolo house, Jeremy is watching Felicity while packing up the house. When Jinger walks in the door with her blonde hair, which she loves, Jeremy agrees that it’s beautiful. “I think we’re now officially ready for California,” says Jeremy. “You look like a Cali girl.”
• Jana makes a change to her hair, too. She goes brunette.
• Joe and Kendra have their big ultrasound at the doctor’s office. Christina (Kendra’s mom), Lauren (Kendra’s oldest sibling), and Isaiah (Kendra’s youngest sibling) come along. The doctor gives Lauren an envelope with the gender inside. James and Jennifer help her make a cake.
• The families meet up at a local park for joint gender reveal party and first birthday party for Garrett. Garrett’s smash cake has either pink or blue frosting inside. It takes him a little while to make it to the center. “I think I ended up kind of pushing his hand down a little bit to help him dig in there,” admits Kendra. It’s a girl!