What Does Their Big News Mean for Jill's Future?

Nobody knows childbirth like the Duggars. Jill Duggar, now Jill Dillard, of 19 Kids and Counting, which returns to TLC on Sept. 2, is no exception. I mean imagine if you’d delivered 60 babies by your early 20s. Yowsa. Yeah, you read that right. 60 babies. That’s a lot of burping and pooping and super tiny human to handle. Now, Jill, who started training in 2012 to become a Certified Professional Midwife, is doing more than just assisting other moms in labor. She announced that she's pregnant and preparing to give birth to a baby herself. The question is, with a baby of her own on the way, will Mrs. Dillard continue with her passion for midwifery?

The Duggar daughter who courted with her now-husband Derick for five months got married this June. It seems the newlyweds caught the same baby fever Mamma and Pappa Duggar share. After the big wedding and the pregnancy announcement that soon followed, Jill filled People in on her own birthing plans, saying that she planned to have the baby at home instead of in a hospital. And after only being married for about a month before the new baby news, Jill and Derek need to settle into married life quickly as they prepare for parenthood. Of course Jill also has her mom, Michelle Duggar, on her side, which is pretty much like having Barack Obama as your campaign manager as you run for grade school class president. They say it takes a village to raise a child, well Jill and Derick definitely have the Duggar village on their side for this one.

Having a baby is a lot to handle no matter who you are. I mean heck, if I were to house a kid in my belly for nine months I'd demand it pay my uterus rent. Something tells me Jill's a little more compassionate than that on the mom front. But once Jill has her baby, do you think she'll still work as a midwife? My verdict is a probable yes. Why? Because Jill can't seem to shake that baby fever. She blogged last year about her involvement in midwifery, how she thoroughly enjoys it, and the relationship between mother and midwife. Delivering kids into this world is Jill's passion. It's what she knows. I'm sure delivering a baby of her own will only make that passion stronger. She's already expressed that she wanted to have the baby at home, an obvious ode to what she knows about midwife life.

However it's important to remember that the Duggar family does not use birth control and Jill told Us Weekly that she and Derick, "want as many kids as God will give us." If they follow in Michelle and Jim Bob's footsteps, it'd probably be difficult for her to continue working.

But after what she's picked up from living in a house of 18 other children, I'm sure Jill and Derek can manage. Teamwork is definitely a main ingredient in the Duggar bloodline. So cheers to the newlywed Dillards and their second-generation Duggar on the way. I know Jill will do a heck of a job coaching herself through having the first of her own little Dillard army.

Image: TLC