More than a week ago, Jill Duggar-Dillard finally gave birth to her first child, a son named Israel David Dillard. Jill was two weeks past her due date, and when Israel finally came out, he was HUGE. Which was enough to make me feel really sorry for Jill, because two weeks overdue must have been really uncomfortable, plus I thought squeezing out a gigantic baby probably hurt like hell. As it turns out, Jill had a C-section. It wasn’t entirely her choice – Jill wanted to have an all-natural, drug-free, home birth. But Israel had other ideas. And the whole ordeal involved Jill being induced after a 70 HOUR LABOR.
Jill Duggar and her husband Derick Dillard had planned to have their first child at home, but after a series of frightening circumstances the first-time mom had an emergency C-section for her baby Israel David Dillard. RadarOnline.com reported last week on the growing speculation that Duggar had gone under the knife, and the 19 Kids & Counting star confirmed the dramatic delivery details in an article out Tuesday.
She spent 20 hours in labor but tested positive for strep B, a bacteria that is common during birth but required her to take antibiotic via an IV, according to People magazine. She also saw a slight trace of meconium (fetal waste, which can be a sign of distress) and decided to forgo her home birth plan and head to the hospital.
“I was praying to God to give me strength,” the first Duggar daughter to give birth said. “I was really scared and nervous, but I was praying.”
The 23-year-old tried everything she could to avoid drugs once at the hospital. Duggar explained that she initially declined the drug Pitocin, which helps induce labor, and pain medication, but the baby turned into a transverse breech position. Finally after 70 hours of labor, when the fetus was showing irregular heart rates and had not yet descended, the doctors expressed concern for both her health and that of her son. So the Duggar and Dillard agreeded hat it was time for a cesarean section. Jill’s own mother, Michelle Duggar, has had 4 C-sections and 13 regular births in a row.
They then safely welcomed their son, Israel David Dillard, at 11:49 pm and he weighed a healthy 9-lb., 10-oz. Despite the change in plans, Duggar says that she wouldn’t change a thing.
“I love our birth story because it bonded us so well,” she told the magazine. “I still haven’t changed a single diaper. Derick has been changing them all.”
Well, I’m glad she finally agreed to a C-section. It didn’t sound like she had much choice in the matter – I mean, what else could the doctors say to her? This is the way it had to happen. But I do feel sorry for her because it sounds like her birth plan went to hell almost immediately and she was in pain for a really long time. You’d think that after an experience like that, Jill and Derick would want to wait to get pregnant again, but ten bucks says she’s knocked up again in the next eight months.
Photos courtesy of Jill & Derick’s Instagrams, cover courtesy of People.
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