Jessa Seewald (neé Duggar) and her husband, Ben Seewald, recently welcomed their third child. Their daughter, Ivy Jane, was born on May 26th, and joined her brothers Spurgeon and Henry as part of the Seewald family. The couple made the announcement on the family website.
Ivy Jane Seewald was welcomed into the world Sunday, May 26th. We were getting ready for church when my water broke, and we were thinking ‘Well, I guess we have a change of plans! After three and a half hours of labor, Ivy was born at 5:57pm.Her due date was June 5th, and since both of our boys went five days past their due date, we thought we would go late again. We were so surprised when she came two weeks earlier than her brothers. We definitely weren’t expecting that!
Ivy was born at home weighing 7lbs 14oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She feels so tiny compared to her siblings! Spurgeon was born at nearly 10lbs, and Henry close to 9lbs. We’re so grateful to God for this precious gift. She is already so loved. Her big brothers adore her!
Ivy being born at home wasn't totally surprising, as the Duggars are often advocates of natural birth plans. However, in a new video from TLC, Jessa revealed that a home birth wasn't the plan for this pregnancy.
“Our birth plan through this whole pregnancy was that we would deliver at a birthing suite at the hospital with a midwife there,” Jessa said. “However, the morning that my water broke was the morning that my midwife had left town for a week.”
It struck me as odd that Jessa's midwife was out of town, but she said she was anticipating a late delivery.
“I was not expecting to go early,” the Counting On star said. “We thought we had two weeks left.”
Jessa ended up giving birth on the family couch, after an on-call midwife was there to help deliver the baby. The midwife put a plastic pad on the couch, similar to what you use to potty train a puppy. To get her contractions going, Jessa drank a castor oil smoothie while walking up and down the stairs. Clearly it worked, and little Ivy was born at home.
The name Ivy Jane is a touch more modern than the Duggars usually go for, but Jess and Ben said it was a no-brainer for them.
“Ivy Jane, we just liked those two names," Ben said. "Jessa and I talked about it beforehand this time around and we actually had a name picked out before she was born. We liked the way those names flowed together.”
“And with her middle name, Jane, she’s actually named after Lady Jane Grey, who was a young lady who was Queen of England for a short time during the 1500s. She was a very inspirational character to us,” the father of three added.
Jessa is excited to have a little girl at home, after already having two sons.
“Bows, pink, ruffles, lace. Those are some of the things that are just really exciting about having a girl.”
So how are Spurgeon and Henry handling a new sister?
“Spurgeon especially knew what was going on a little bit more I think because we’d been talking to him and he’s a little older. He kind of gets it, so he held Ivy for several minutes. And Henry, he just kept saying, ‘baby,’ ” said Ben. “It’ll be fun to watch them interact. We’re going to have to teach them to be more gentle, though, because they’re pretty rough.”
It's wild to think that Jessa's plans changed so drastically, but she seemed to handle it smoothly!
