Another Duggar has officially joined the family! Josiah Duggar’s wife, Lauren Duggar (née Swanson), gave birth to their first child, Bella Milagro, on Friday, November 8, at 5:24 p.m.
“After a long and difficult labor, our girl arrived,” the couple revealed to Us Weekly exclusively. “When we finally got to see and hold our precious Bella Milagro all the pain instantly went away. We can’t believe she is ours — she is so perfect! She definitely has lived up to her name which means, ‘beautiful miracle.’ Today we are basking in God’s goodness!”
The little one arrived at 6 pounds and 5 ounces, measuring 18.5 inches long.
The Counting On stars announced that they were expecting in May, telling Us exclusively, “God’s faithfulness to us in our most difficult moments has sustained us and brought us such love and comfort. We cannot begin to tell you how much we are looking forward to holding this baby in our arms this fall. Every good and perfect gift is from above and we are looking forward to this new season of parenting together!”
They revealed the sex of their baby-to-be in June. “We are so grateful that God has blessed us with a sweet baby girl!” the pair told Us. “If she only knew how loved she is already and how many people are already praying for her! She truly is a gift … a miracle from God.”
Three months before their pregnancy announcement, Us broke the news that Lauren, 20, had suffered a miscarriage. “A couple months ago, we found out that we were expecting, but suddenly thereafter, we lost our baby,” she said in a TLC announcement at the time.
Josiah, 23, went on to say, “It really was a hard time for our family going through this right after we got married. And all the dreams of getting to see our little one and hold it in our hands dashed before our eyes.”
The reality stars shared the name of the baby they lost on social media in May. “As we rejoice of the life of our second sweet baby, we also remember (balloon as symbolism) our other sweet baby, Asa, in heaven,” the couple captioned an Instagram post at the time. “God is so incredibly good!”
The TLC personalities, who tied the knot in July 2018, aren’t the only Duggar couple to welcome a baby girl this year. Jessa Seewald (née Duggar) gave birth to her and Ben Seewald’s first daughter, Ivy, in May, followed by Kendra Duggar‘s baby girl on November 2. Abbie Duggar (née Burnett) and Anna Duggar (née Keller) are both currently pregnant with girls.
“It’s definitely brought us closer, just to share the same feelings,” Lauren told Us last month of sharing this experience with her sisters-in-law. “[There’s] sympathy. You have that pregnancy brain where you forget things, so [we] remind each other, ‘Oh, yeah, I need to do this before my baby comes.’ … It’s very special.”
Counting On airs on TLC Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
