Former reality TV star Jessa Duggar Seewald is still “counting on” when it comes to parenting, even though her TV show of that name is a thing of the past. Last month, Jessa and her husband Ben Seewald announced that they are expecting their fifth child, after a pregnancy loss the previous year.
Jessa shared a screen shot from her YouTube channel on her Instagram story that says “After a heartbreaking loss last year, we’re so thankful God has blessed us with a rainbow baby.” In the YouTube video, Jessa shows a photo of her positive pregnancy test while reiterating their news, “After a heartbreaking loss of our baby last year, just this past week, we found out some wonderful news that our rainbow baby is on the way and we could not be more excited.”
The couple are already parents to Spurgeon, 7, Henry 6, Ivy, 4, and Fern, 2. The loss they spoke of was their 2nd, says Seewald. She also had a miscarriage after Ivy’s birth and before Fern’s. As it is currently pregnancy and infant loss awareness month, I’m glad that Jessa’s news is making rounds on the internet. It’s important to not only acknowledge the babies we give birth to, but also the ones who never grow outside or wombs or who are stillborn or die soon after birth. All are precious, and all are worth talking about and remembering.
Jessa elaborates in her video about the pain and shock that came with her last pregnancy loss.
“I feel like in some ways, missed miscarriages can be so much more jarring because you don’t have clear signs of something going wrong,” she explained. “I had minimal spotting for like 24 hours, and that was it,” she said. She also shared that because she has a history of hemmorhaging with birth, her doctor felt it was best to empty her uterus via D&C, rather than let her body expel its contents naturally. I am thankful that she shared this because it draws attention to the fact that pregnancy and birth can be tricky for some women, and so can miscarriage. Every body is different and every woman’s birth and loss experience will be, too. This is why pregnancy loss can be doubly traumatic for some of us, when the loss of a child also puts the mother’s health at risk.
Thanks in part to that careful medical care, the Seewalds are now looking forward to welcoming baby #5 in 2024. In a joint statement shared by TLC, the couple said, “The pregnancy is going smoothly, and both baby and Jessa are doing well. We are so grateful to God for the precious gift of a new life!”
We wish them a healthy pregnancy and birth and all the best.
