Jessa Seewald Announces Pregnancy, Did She Solve a Duggar Family Mystery?
The Duggar family is planning to welcome several new babies in 2023. Jessa Seewald has added herself to the count. The mother of four announced her fifth pregnancy this week. While the announcement was expected, does it solve a long-standing Duggar pregnancy mystery? Let’s look at the facts.
Duggar family followers have spent months looking for a missing Duggar pregnancy
Jessa Seewald’s pregnancy is an interesting development, but Duggar family followers have been trying to unravel a family mystery for months before Jessa shared her big news. In October 2022, Joy-Anna Forsyth posted a video to YouTube that shared her family’s reactions to her pregnancy. In one clip, Joy’s father, Jim Bob Duggar, informed his daughter that she would be giving birth to the family’s 30th grandchild.
Joy was shocked by the revelation, and so were family followers. Based on the announced births, Joy should be pregnant with Jim Bob and Michelle’s 27th grandchild, so where are the other three? It is largely believed both Kendra Caldwell and Lauren Swanson gave birth in 2021 or 2022. Both Kendra and Lauren have been spotted in the background of videos with young babies. Assuming both babies exist, which they seem to, there is still a missing birth or pregnancy announcement in the family. Is Jessa’s announcement the mystery 29th grandchild? It doesn’t seem that way.
Is Jessa Duggar the Duggar due with Duggar grandchild number 29?
Jessa Duggar’s pregnancy announcement wasn’t unexpected. Duggar family followers have spent months theorizing that her social media hiatus had something to do with a pregnancy. But are Jessa and Ben Seewald the couple expecting baby #29? Honestly, it doesn’t seem like it.
In October 2022, Jim Bob told Joy Forsyth that she’d be having the family’s 30th grandchild. Joy is due in late May. Based on what Jessa said in her YouTube video, baby Seewald is likely to be born after Joy and Austin’s second son. In her video, Jessa claimed her baby is due in the “summer.” The summer officially begins on June 21, 2023. If baby Seewald is expected to arrive in the literal summer season, they’ll be the Duggar family’s 32nd grandchild, based on Jim Bob’s math. Joy Forysth is due on May 22, and Katey Nakatsu, Jedidiah Duggar’s wife, is due with her second child a day later.
Jessa and Ben opted not to share any details about their upcoming baby. They did not announce an official due date or include a gender reveal in their video. That could be coming in the future, though. Still, it doesn’t seem like they have been harboring the mysterious 29th Duggar grandchild.
If Jessa’s baby isn’t the 29th Duggar grandchild, who could be pregnant with the mystery baby?
So, Jessa and Ben won’t be bringing grandbaby #29 into the world, it would seem. So, who else could be pregnant and due in the next two months or so? Some Duggar family followers theorize that there is no mystery to be figured out. Some people have theorized that Jim Bob Duggar misspoke when he said Joy’s upcoming child would be the 30th grandchild in the family. It’s equally likely that another family member was pregnant but had a miscarriage.
While both are plausible explanations, a couple of Duggar family members could still be pregnant without sharing the big news. Both Lauren Swanson and Kendra Caldwell appear to have welcomed children without making announcements on social media in 2021 or 2022. There is no reason to believe they’d announce any subsequent pregnancies.
Lauren, who married Josiah Duggar, has shut down her social media accounts. Kendra, who is married to Joseph Duggar, abandoned her Instagram shortly before Josh Duggar’s conviction. In theory, both could be pregnant again, although Kendra seems like the most likely candidate. Joseph and Kendra’s children are closely spaced together. If the baby Joseph Duggar was spotted holding during a Duggar family event is their fourth child, a new pregnancy is an absolute possibility. She could be pregnant with a fifth baby despite never officially announcing her fourth child’s birth.
If it is Kendra or Lauren expecting the Duggar family’s 29th grandchild, followers may never know. Both couples have been very protective of their privacy since Josh Duggar’s trial and conviction. It doesn’t look like they’ll return to social media to share updates any time soon.