Jill Duggar says she was surprised to learn that she was expecting last month, having taken two negative pregnancy tests prior to getting a positive reading.
"I was thinking that maybe we should take a pregnancy test," recalls the 19 Kids and Counting star and wife of Derick Dillard, 23, after her period was late.
She began with two pregnancy tests that "were both negative" she says, but when the results for test #3 arrived, the newlyweds were shocked.
"We were really surprised when we got that positive test," Duggar says, "but of course we were really excited." As for why they even took a third test?
"It was Jinger," Jill says of one of her 20-year-old sister, the first person to learn of her pregnancy. "She was like, ‘You know, mama has a bunch of tests upstairs.’"
Jill laughed off the idea, but then decided to try it to prove Jinger wrong. Derick was also present when Jill took the test, sharing in the elated shock.
"I was screaming and everything," she laughs. "He was like, ‘Don’t get too excited! You might stress out the baby or something.’ He’s so cute. He’s so sweet."
In the flurry of their excitement, the couple left the empty pregnancy test in Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar’s bathroom, and soon got a text from her mom.
"She was like, ‘So I have a question! I found an empty pregnancy test in the trash can and your cup on the counter, so anything you want to share?’"
"I was like, ‘We’ll wait and see,’" Duggar recalls, not revealing anything then. "It was funny. She had a suspicion there. She was thinking, ‘something’s up.’"
The soon-to-be-parents confirmed to the family soon enough, and then to the public, that Jill Duggar is pregnant just 60 days after their wedding.
"We really didn’t know how long we’d be able to keep it a secret with all of our friends. We wanted to tell them," she said, praising God for the blessing.
As for why they would share the news while still in the heart of their first trimester, when most miscarriages occur? A midwife in training, Jill knows the risk.
The Duggars mourned, even named the two children Michelle lost to miscarriages in the past, so once conception has occurred, it’s a family member to them.
"We would – even if there were to be a miscarriage – want that child to be recognized," she says. "So it was something that we thought about and went forward with."
