- published: 28 Sep 2014
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19 Kids and Counting (formerly 17 Kids and Counting and 18 Kids and Counting) is an American reality television show on TLC. The show is about the Duggar family, which consists of parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children—nine girls and ten boys (including two sets of fraternal twins), who all have names beginning with the letter "J". The series began on September 29, 2008. Season nine ended on March 27, 2012.
The family lives in Tontitown, Arkansas, and originally appeared in several TLC and Discovery Health one-hour specials, most of which focused on four of Michelle's last five deliveries. Jim Bob has one older sister, Deanna, who (along with her daughter Amy) occasionally appears on the show. Michelle has six siblings. Jim Bob and Michelle met in the early 1980s when Jim Bob, along with another church member, were sent for a follow-up visit after Michelle had experienced a religious conversion. Jim Bob and Michelle were married on July 21, 1984.
The Duggars elected to delay having children and practiced birth control. It was three years before Josh, their eldest child, was born. They then resumed using birth control; despite precautions, they conceived again but Michelle had a miscarriage. On December 9, 2011, Michelle revealed that they had named the miscarried child Caleb, even though they did not know whether the baby was a boy or a girl. Believing the miscarriage was due to the contraceptive, the Duggars quit birth control and embraced the Quiverfull movement. As they explained, they "decided to allow God to determine the number of children" they would have. Shortly thereafter, Michelle became pregnant again, this time with her first set of twins, Jana and John-David. Thereafter, Michelle has given birth approximately every year and a half.