Joy-Anna Duggar Says Motherhood Is Harder Than She Thought!
Sept. 15 2018, Published 7:41 p.m. ET
Motherhood with son Gideon isn't what Joy-Anna Duggar expected.
In a new Counting On clip for this week's episode, Joy-Anna, who was caught in an alleged shotgun wedding scandal with husband Austin Forsyth, said on camera, "Being a mom is in a lot of ways easier than I thought and in a lot of ways harder than I thought."
And the reality star, just 20, now gives props to her mom Michelle.
"I knew that my mom had gone through a lot with all of us kids, but like I didn't think it was that hard just because I'd always taken care of kids myself," noted Joy-Anna, who babysat her younger siblings. "But it's given me a whole new appreciation for moms out there that have kids."
Joy-Anna grew up with 18 other children who first became famous on TLC's 19 Kids and Counting. Now she and some of her sisters are revealing their motherhood struggles on the spinoff Counting On.
On the show, Austin admitted, "I hadn't really ever changed a diaper before we had Gideon. And then with Joy's C-section, and her being kinda bed-ridden and just not really being able to get out of bed much... She probably changed maybe five diapers the first two weeks. So it was like diaper boot camp. I got broke in."
Although the Duggar gals always would rather have home births, Joy-Anna wound up having a hospital C-section.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, Joy-Anna was rushed to the hospital, and doctors performed the emergency C-section on Feb. 23.
Healthy bouncing baby Gideon turned out to be a bruiser, measuring 22 inches long and weighing 10 lbs., 3 oz.
Afterwards, she said Austin "had to help me up and do all the dirty work for me and the baby."
The young mom revealed to TLC cameras that their son "Gideon usually loves bath time" but she has to wake him up to make sure he eats!
Her husband said his conclusion is, "There's always going to be something…that's part of my job as a dad" to take care of it."
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