Duggars Open To Having More Children

First Published: August 11, 2010 6:18 PM EDT Credit: TLC/Scott Enlow

Caption The Duggars from “19 Kids and Counting” on TLC

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- It was only late June when Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar were finally able to bring their 19th child — baby Josie — into their home, after nearly six months of hospitalizations and delays following her premature birth in December 2009. In a new interview with People, however, the couple revealed they are open to continuing to grow their brood.

“People think we are overpopulating the world,” Jim Bob told People magazine, which features the couple and their baby on the cover of its August 23 issue under the headline “We’re Ready For More.” “We are following our convictions.”

According to the magazine, the “19 Kids and Counting” stars — devout Christians, and in particular, Baptists — do not use any contraception and will have more children if it happens.

“Before we had a heart change about children, I thought it was very strange for people to have more than three,” Jim Bob told the mag. “We don’t expect people to understand.”

The couple’s position on having more children has raised some eyebrows for a host of reasons, including the family’s size, questions over how much time they can devote to each child, and most recently, what happened while Michelle, 43, was pregnant with Josie. According to the mag, last year Michelle developed pregnancy-induced high blood pressure. Josie ended up being delivered early – at around just 6 months, the mag noted.

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Josie was born on December 10 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Arkansas, via emergency c-section. A micro-preemie, Josie weighed just 1 lb., 6 oz. at her birth and was placed in the NICU for extended care. She also faced a bowel perforation at just 8 days old.

Originally, Josie was going to be taken to the Duggars’ Tonitown, Ark., home in April, but 12 of the infant’s siblings got chicken pox, delaying her homecoming by several weeks. She finally returned home on June 25.

Michelle noted she is not currently expecting, “but that could change tomorrow or the next day or next week,” she told People.

“That is out of my hands,” she added.

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