FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Michelle Duggar is all smiles after delivering her 15th child, but she may be ready for more, her family says.

Mother and child were doing well, although Michelle, 37, was feeling some discomfort because the birth was her second by Caesarean section, said her mother-in-law, Mary Duggar.

``She's a trouper. She's just all smiles,'' Mary Duggar said.

Jackson Levi Duggar was born at 10:52 a.m. Sunday, weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 20 inches.

``She was wanting to do it naturally,'' Mary Duggar said. But the delivery was by C-section because one of Jackson's shoulders was presenting first.

``I call him Jumping Jack because he would go in a circle,'' she said.

The baby's father, former state legislator Jim Bob Duggar, sounded a bit tired but happy after returning home Monday. He said his wife and new son were doing fine. He said he leaves the decision up to Michelle on whether to have more children.

``I have always left it up to Michelle because she's actually the one that carries them and does all the labor,'' he said. ``But we both love children. Even yesterday, she said she would like to have some more.''

Michelle probably will be in Washington Regional Medical Center for three or four days, said her mother-in-law, who is taking care of the 14 other children.

Michelle, who home schools her children and is helping to build the family's new home in Tontitown from the ground up, started having her babies when she was 21, four years after she and Jim Bob married. Her 38-year-old husband is a real estate businessman.

Their children include two sets of twins, and the parents have stuck to the letter ``J'' for their names. There is Joshua, 16; Jana and John-David, 14; Jill, 13; Jessa, 11; Jinger, 10; Joseph, 9; Josiah, 7; Joy-Anna, 6; Jeremiah and Jedidiah, 5; Jason, 4; James, 2; and Justin, 1.

I saw that this morning.. What kind of name is Jigger?

Geez...talk about a herd of kids. That's alot. Wonder how they drive them around??? In a bus???

I went to school with a guy who was the 12th of 16 kids. All were singles - no twins. Ten boys, 6 girls. Four kids' bedrooms: 5 boys in one room and 4 in the other and 3 girls to a room.(The oldest boy had moved out) I remember the stacked bins at the front door - everyone had to put their shoes and school books in them, and a personal coat hook for everyone on the wall! When the kids got older and could drive - there were so many cars, it always looked like there was a party at their house! (They all worked to pay for their own cars)

Still, I don't know how people can afford that many!

And she home-schools them all! Without the benefit of a superintendent, principal, business manager, curriculum coordinator . . .

In the city where I once lived, there was a family with 15 children. Once, they forgot one while at the video store. The police finally tracked down the parents by going through the day's rental records and calling every renter until they found them. Another time, they forgot and left one in the family van in front of their house all day on a hot day. It died. I think there is a limit on how many children parents can care for. Based on my observations, one child is too many for some people to take care of. Too many unwanted children are abused and killed, and our society just sort of ignores it. A local newspaper recently printed a story about abused animals. On the same page was a story about a 3-year old child beaten to death by her mother. The article on animal abuse received an outpouring of outrage and sympathy. The article on the death of the child received no response.

Sorry for the rant, but I think some in our society need to change their priorities.

Large families are great, but you don't see a lot of them these days. I came from a family of 15, 12boys and 3 girls. But it was a farming family and dad needed the help back then I guess. My twin and I were the last, and what makes it a little different is that dad was 78 years old when we were born. I think my mother (age 42 then), finally said enough is enough.

We have a family locally with 17 children and they all resembled each other (at least in school). One of my co-workers is the youngest of 11. This just boggles my mind.

"Large families are great, but you don't see a lot of them these days. I came from a family of 15, 12boys and 3 girls. But it was a farming family and dad needed the help back then I guess. My twin and I were the last, and what makes it a little different is that dad was 78 years old when we were born. I think my mother (age 42 then), finally said enough is enough."


that was my post, I forgot to sign in.

Quote:

---

Geez...talk about a herd of kids.

---

That reminds me of a segment on Saturday Night Live years ago when they were interviewing a mother with lots of children. They asked her if she practiced birth control. Her response was that she practiced every night, but could never get it right.

RANT WARNING!!

I just have to put my 2 cents in here. What I find insane is the fact that the powers that be, whomever they are, restrict the number of children allowed in a classroom, they restrict the number of children in a licensed day care (my son in at an in home day care and she can't have more than 8 kids in the home at any time, and only 6 if more than one is under the age of 2) however, as parents they think a person can have as many as they want!! The rules imposed on the day care, should be imposed on families too. A person can NOT no matter how good they are watch that many children and be responsible for their activities! We are responsible for those kids until they are 18 years old, who could take GOOD care of that many? They would not get the attention they require in their tender young years! I find it just insane!! Rant over.

I am not saying your rant isn't correct, but I think in the larger families, the older children look after the younger ones to some extent. Also, some of the daily "chores" can be split among a larger number. I am the baby by 15 years in our family, but I would have loved to have had some help when it came to helping clean the house. These families need to be very organized and if the parents are willing, the setup might work. What would upset me is if they are truly not good parents and still continue to have kids...whether they have 1 or 15. Personally I wouldn't want to have that many, but that is our decision. There are 5 kids in my husband's family and we comment all the time that we don't know how his Mom did it, they were all close in age. Just my 2 cents.

We heard the story on the radio this morning. They said so and so from somewhere usa just had her fifteenth baby. My (only)four year old said "She can't even hold 15 babies". I said " my thoughts exactly" I have always felt that if you are stupid enough, do it. I prefer to remain sane and raise an only child. to each his own...

Oh my gosh...PapaChief...your family sounds like a movie of the week!!!

Did your father live long enough to see you all grow up?

Oh my gosh...PapaChief...your family sounds like a movie of the week!!!

Did your father live long enough to see you all grow up?

Yes SnowQueen, he was 94 when he died, we were 16. HE was born in 1870, when Grant was in his first term. Now you can figure my age

56?

Bingo! .......that used to be old , and just last week i
realized that is the age Lincoln was when he was shot.

Some talk show I was watching the other day brought up the census statistics of # of children families were having, broken down by race. I can't remember the numbers, but minority families are having on average many more babies than white families are. Very very soon (and it's already happened in California), there won't be any "majority" race - none that is 50% or more of the population.

"White people just aren't having babies," the moderator said.

Maybe this family is trying their darndest to change those statistics? All by themselves?

My grandfather was 56 when my father was born and dad was his first. My father was almost 40 when I was born and I was his first. My grandfather died at 96 1/2 and I was 10 months old. He was born in 1865.

My family doesn't have a lot of children, just most of them have them late. I had my son at 26, but my younger brother had his first child last year and he's 38.