Jill Duggar has revealed that she suffered a devastating miscarriage earlier this month, just days after learning that she was pregnant with her third child.
The 30-year-old and her husband Derick Dillard, 32, shared their heartbreaking news in a video posted to their website, YouTube and social media accounts on Monday, detailing how their ‘happiness’ over their third pregnancy quickly ‘turned to heartbreak’ when they learned that they had lost their unborn child.
In the clip, the couple – who tied the knot in 2014 – shared footage of the moment they learned they were expecting, as well as heartwarming video of them telling their young sons Samuel, four, and Israel, six, that they were going to be brothers to a baby sibling.
‘We recently found out that we were expecting our third baby,’ Jill and Derick wrote on their website, while sharing footage of the happy family celebrating the news with a pizza party in their Arkansas home.
‘Happiness turns to heartbreak’: Jill Duggar and her husband Derick Dillard have revealed they suffered a miscarriage earlier this month, days after learning they were pregnant
Tribute: The couple paid tribute to their lost baby, who they named River Bliss, in a video montage posted online on Monday, in which they are seen celebrating their pregnancy news
Process: In the video, Jill, 30, can be seen shopping for pregnancy tests at a local pharmacy with Derick, 32
Heartbreak: The video cuts to an image of Jill mourning the loss of her baby – who would have been younger sibling to the couple’s two sons, Samuel, four, and Israel, six
‘We were all thrilled! It was fun to see so much joy in the boys’ faces as we shared the news with them. They were full of questions and so excited as we talked about the pregnancy and how they would get to be involved along the way and after baby was born.
‘However, a few days later we started miscarrying.’
Jill and Derick revealed that they were not far enough along in their pregnancy to have learned the gender of their unborn child – suggesting that the mother-of-two suffered a first-trimester miscarriage – however they chose to give their baby a name that they feel ‘encompasses [their] significance’: River Bliss Dillard.
The name holds special meaning for the Arkansas-based couple – who explained that it has several different inspirations behind it.
‘One meaning for River is “tranquil”…and here in Arkansas, rivers are often a serene, beautiful escape in nature,’ they explained.
‘We also like how the River talked about in the Bible (Rev. 22:1-5) represents God’s life-giving presence. The river of life (Holy Spirit), “flows from the throne of God,” and with the tree of life is “for the healing of the nations.”
Family: In the clip, the couple also captured the moment they told their sons their happy news
Overjoyed: On their website, Jill and Derick said that their boys were ‘full of questions and so excited’ about the pregnancy
Party time: The family celebrated the news with a pizza party in their Arkansas home
‘Our baby doesn’t get to live here with us on earth, but is forever with the source of the river of life, in the presence of the Lord!’
They added that the middle name Bliss is intended to represent the fact that their baby is now living in ‘perfect bliss with the Lord’, while also paying tribute to the ‘immense joy and happiness’ their unborn child brought them.
‘We chose Bliss for a middle name because our baby is living in perfect bliss with the Lord and was such a gift that brought immense joy and happiness to us even though only with us here on earth for a short time,’ the post concluded.
Jill and Derick’s video tribute to their unborn child was quickly flooded with words of sympathy from their fans and supporters, with one person writing: ‘Jill and Derick, I am so sorry for your loss. I know how much you wanted this baby.
‘Know there are so many of us that are thinking of you and lifting you up with positive thoughts and prayers.’
Prior to their post about the miscarriage, Jill and Derick had not revealed that they were trying for a third child – although they revealed in February interview that they ‘were not opposed’ to expanding their family.
Speaking to US Weekly, the couple also shared that they had discussed the idea of adopting another child at some point in the future, explaining that they were ‘open to wherever God leads us’.
Education: Jill could also be seen teaching her children about the baby’s development
Meaningful: Although the couple were not far enough along in the pregnancy to have learned the gender of their child, they chose the name River Bliss to ‘express their baby’s significance’
Jill is not the first member of the Duggar family to speak out publicly about miscarriage struggles; her sisters Jessa, Joy-Anna, and Jinger have all previously shared their own miscarriage experiences in the past.
In February, Jill’s younger sister Jessa, 28, revealed that she had quietly suffered a miscarriage in 2020, while announcing that she was expecting her fourth child with husband Ben Seewald, 26.
Jill and Derick’s heartbreaking loss comes amid a difficult time for the Duggar family.
The family’s oldest sibling Josh is currently preparing to stand trial in November for two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography. The 39-year-old, whose wife Anna is currently pregnant with their seventh child, was arrested on April 29 and later released on on bail.
He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Josh, who has spent the last five months living at the home of family friends in rural Arkansas, was seen for the first time since his release from jail on September 28, when he attended an evidentiary hearing in Fayetteville, where his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Duggar’s case entirely claiming investigators failed to ‘preserve potentially exculpatory evidence’.
They also filed a motion to suppress statements Duggar allegedly made to agents during the course of their investigation, as well as a motion to suppress photos taken of Duggar’s hands and feet.
All of the motions were rejected by the judge.
Jill and Derick, whose relationship with the wider Duggar family has been strained for years, have not yet commented directly on the charges made against Josh, they did issue a statement in July about TLC’s decision to permanently cancel the family’s reality show, Counting On, in the wake of his arrest.
The couple, who hasn’t appeared on the show in four years, shared a joint statement on their website a week after the network announced the end of the spin-off series starring her parents and siblings.
Jill and Derick never shared whether they agree with the show being canceled, though they spoke vaguely about the reasons they stepped away from it.
‘Our statement about the cancellation of “Counting On” is a little late because we just learned the news with the rest of the world last Tuesday + this season of life is quite busy for us,’ they explained.
‘We first heard of the cancellation when both a friend & a cousin each texted us after seeing TLC’s statement online. We do not know how long the cancellation had been planned.’