’19 Kids and Counting’: How Many Duggars Were Born on the Show?
The Duggar family’s reality TV career appears to be over. In June 2021, TLC announced the cancelation of Counting On following the arrest of Joshua Duggar, the eldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. Counting On was not the first iteration of the family’s show, though. Their original show, 19 Kids and Counting, was canceled after a different family scandal involving Josh. By the time the network officially parted ways with the Duggars, TLC had filmed the family for nearly two decades. With a family like the Duggars, that means a lot of babies were born during the show’s run. Do you remember every Duggar who had their birth filmed, though?
Jackson Duggar was the first Duggar born on camera, but his birth came before ’19 Kids and Counting’
Jim Bob and Michelle were only notorious in their small corner of Northwest Arkansas before TLC came calling. By the time TL introduced them to the world, the Duggars already had 14 children, but they were ready to grow more. When the family’s first special, 14 Children and Pregnant Again, was filmed, Michelle and Jim Bob were awaiting the arrival of yet another little boy.
Jackson Levi Duggar was born at the end of the special. Jackson was the first Duggar born on television, and he quickly became a staple in the family’s original series, 19 Kids and Counting. He often appeared in interviews with his younger sister, Johannah Faith Duggar. Jackson turned 17 in May. TLC also featured the arrival of Johannah, the first girl born after a string of six boys. Johannah turns 16 on October 11.
During their time on TLC, the Duggar family welcomed a slew of new family members
Jackson was the first member of the Duggar family to be born in front of a camera, but he certainly wasn’t the last. During the show’s long history, TLC filmed 19 different Duggar family members’ births. While 19 separate deliveries were featured on 19 Kids and Counting, Counting On, and several specials, there were more than 19 kids born during that time frame.
Josh and Anna Duggar had their first three birth filmed in one way or another. Baby number 4, however, arrived in 2015, just after back-to-back scandals rocked the Duggar family. The birth of baby #4, Meredith Duggar, was not featured, nor were Mason Duggar’s births or Maryella Duggar’s births, born in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
The 2017 birth of Jill and Derick Dillard’s second son, Samuel Dillard, was also not featured on the show, nor was the arrival of Joy-Anna Forsyth’s daughter, Evelyn Mae, several years later. Jessa Seewald welcomed three children into the world with TLC cameras watching, but the birth of her fourth child, Fern Seewald, was not attended by TLC. Instead, Jessa shared her birth story on her YouTube channel.
TLC covered the birth of Joseph Duggar and Kendra Duggar’s third child
Several Duggar family members are pregnant or have given birth since Josh’s April 2021 arrest. The network, however, hasn’t filmed any of those special moments, nor will they be filming them in the future. The last Duggar born during the family’s reality TV reign belongs to Joseph Duggar and his wife, Kendra.
Brooklyn Praise Duggar, the couple’s third child in as many years, was born in February 2021. In March 2021, TLC shared a clip on Facebook about the birth. Before Brooklyn’s 2021 birth, TLC cameras captured parts of Abbie Burnett’s labor. Abbie married John David Duggar in 2018. Their daughter, Grace Annette Duggar, was born in January 2020. None of those births were on 19 Kids and Counting, though. All of the babies born after 2015 were featured on the family’s spinoff series, Counting On.
