If you thought the dinner table at your Thanksgiving festivities was filled with too many people in your immediate family, then you're probably not familiar with the Duggar family. The Duggars have been entertaining audiences on TLC since 2008 on the family's reality show, 19 Kids and Counting. But they're not just an ordinary family — the Duggars have 19 children in their family. And one daughter, Joy-Anna, will soon be adding one more to the Duggar bunch. But how many kids does Joy-Anna Duggar have in total?
Joy-Anna is the ninth out of 19 brothers and sisters in the Duggar clan. At just 19 years old, Joy-Anna has had quite the eventful year, by getting married to husband Austin Forsyth in May, as People reported at the time. But amidst the joy of their newlywed phase, Joy-Anna had one more announcement to make. In late August, the couple announced that they were expecting a child together. Joy-Anna told People at the time of the announcement:
We're so happy and thankful to announce that we're expecting a baby! Every child is such a precious gift from God. I'm most looking forward to watching Austin as a dad and raising children together with him.
This is super exciting — and with as many younger brothers and sisters as Joy-Anna has, one can safely assume that she will have parenting under control. But playing babysitter to her younger siblings is the only parenting experience she has because Joy-Anna does not have any other children.
The couple has not yet said when they are expecting the first child to start their family. But according to clues given by Joy-Anna's most recent Instagram post from two weeks ago, she is a little more than 18 weeks pregnant, as she noted that her fetus was the "size of a bell pepper." This means that she's likely in her second trimester and puts her due date within the next few months. A little baby Forsyth will be here before you know it.
As previously stated, although Joy-Anna does not have any kids (other than the one she is expecting), she does have a lot of experience in caring for others — not only from her siblings, but from her nieces and nephews. Joy-Anna's older sisters, Jill and Jessa, and oldest brother Josh, all have more than two children of their own. So not only is Joy-Anna's immediate family huge, but her extended family keeps on growing and growing.
This is probably why, even though they are only expecting expecting their first kid together, both Joy-Anna and Austin are looking forward to having more kids, if they can. "We want as many as the Lord thinks we can handle," Joy-Anna told People. "And we are putting it into his hands."
With having such a strong mother who raised so many kids herself, Joy-Anna told People that she is excited to use the lessons learned from her mom and incorporate them into her own parenting skills. Joy-Anna told the magazine:
I have a lot of good memories of my mom teaching us and the quality time we spent together, and I'm really looking forward to doing that with my own children. It's such an amazing thing to be a parent and raise children!
All of these new things happening in Joy-Anna's life at the moment are super exciting. For fans who grew up watching the Duggar family's reality show, it has been amazing to watch all of the children grow and begin their own individual lives and journeys.
Luckily, fans can continue to do that as the 19 Kids and Counting spin off, Counting On, which Joy-Anna stars on, is currently airing on TLC. With as much as Joy-Anna's life has changed since 19 Kids and Counting came on the air almost 10 years ago, one could expect to watch her life change even more (with maybe more kids on the way) on Counting On.
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