Anna Duggar - Merge

[JessaBlessa]

Were Anna and Josh in a courtship before he proposed? I'm just wondering because she seemed so shocked when he asked her to marry him. Jill and Jessa certainly were expecting their courtships to end with a proposal.

I don't know if anyone has seen the video of the appearance the Duggars made on Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Bentonville, Ark. It is on the church's web site. Anna looked very large and uncomfortable to me. She didn't seem to be feeling well. But her midwife seems to be very competent.

[gemma]

Were Anna and Josh in a courtship before he proposed? I'm just wondering because she seemed so shocked when he asked her to marry him. Jill and Jessa certainly were expecting their courtships to end with a proposal.

I don't know if anyone has seen the video of the appearance the Duggars made on Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Bentonville, Ark. It is on the church's web site. Anna looked very large and uncomfortable to me. She didn't seem to be feeling well. But her midwife seems to be very competent.

Yes, I remember Josh calling Anna's father to ask if he can court his daughter.

[Jana814]

I think Anna was in a dead-end life, and Josh came onto the scene and seemed like her knight in shining armor. She seems like a really patient soul, and able to be subservient to the obnoxious know -it -all Josh. If I recall, her vows were to obey that pork chop of a husband and leave the number of children up to God. She made her bed, now she's got to lie in it. So far, I think her life is the way she wants it to be, and it's better than what she had before.

I have to agree that Anna's life is better then it was before. But I also think that Josh would help more w/ the kids. I don't think she in visioned moving to Washington DC & being home all day w/ 3 kids & a husband who has a job he is not qualified for.

[BlessaBlessa]

I think that courtship, engagement, wedding, Jill got pregnant stuff set off baby envy in Anna. Her reaction to the pregnancy and gender reveal was 'oh I wish I were.' She may have been ready to slow down until the sisters-in-law started gearing up.

She's going to have a hard time keeping up with all those pregnancies. Everytime a SIL get's pregnant Anna will need to get pregnant. :o

[momof2treasures]

Anna just seems lost all the time. It seems that even people who dislike the Duggars have some sort of leg humper-ish feelings toward her because they feel so sorry for her, which I find annoying. Would you want people to like you because they feel sorry for you? How embarrassing for her!

I can't listen to her talk, especially when she keeps doing the wide eyed googly thing to make a point, and she keeps saying "aaand" "aaaannnndddd", because she doesn't know how to end a sentence or a thought. It's painful to listen to. If she had attended a real school she would have had speech class and would be able to sound intelligent on camera.

You can see her at her most vulnerable during her labors, and you can see how weak she really is. When she had Marcus in the birthing tub she was terrified he was going to drown because she had no clue how water birthing worked. When she was in the car in labor she just kept screaming stuff like "oh Joshua I love you" and screaming out for Jesus to help her. No, it's called help yourself, educate yourself and depend on yourself. She should have been educated about a water birth. This family has never had her best interests in mind during her labor and deliveries and she needs to take matters into her own hands to save herself and her children.

She now has a ton of money and yet Mackinzie needs speech therapy. The kids aren't well behaved either - much like their aunts and uncles, but they seem to get passes because their cute. I see kids who are being very spoiled and getting very entitled, I don't see cute. She never put down Mikey after she had Marcus and needed help with only 3 kids. Most mommy's I know with 2 or more kids don't need that kind of help.

Anna seems to think the clueless sweet thing is endearing but I just don't. She is co-dependant and weak, and totally bedazzled by the Duggars. Yes, she will break down very soon because she is laying the road for it with her sweetness, co-dependance on ignorant people, and her lack of ability to speak up with questions or demands for herself and her kids.

wow! What do her finances have to do with a child needing speech therapy? And are we really judging women as weak for how they act in labor?

Any child with any parent could end up needing speech therapy, not that we would know unless we were a speech pathologist evaluating her but that's not the point.

[Jana814]

She's going to have a hard time keeping up with all those pregnancies. Everytime a SIL get's pregnant Anna will need to get pregnant. :o

Agree!!

[nastyhobbitses]

I like Priscilla very much, but there is something different about her presentation. She is very child-like. I don't want to be critical of her, but she is different.

I want to hope that it's just an affectation and she's just a bit ditzy and puts on the baby talk because David likes it/she figures it's gotten her attention this long, so if it ain't broke/she thinks it's cute...but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there was something legitimately not quite normal with her.

[HuggleMonster]

wow! What do her finances have to do with a child needing speech therapy? And are we really judging women as weak for how they act in labor?

Any child with any parent could end up needing speech therapy, not that we would know unless we were a speech pathologist evaluating her but that's not the point.

I don't think it's a judgement at all. If you're going to have a lot of babies, I would suggest educating yourself on all aspects of pregnancy, labour, birth and child rearing. It's hard enough doing any of those. Even harder when you have no idea about a new situation or problem that crops up.

[BarbaraMary]

I want to hope that it's just an affectation and she's just a bit ditzy and puts on the baby talk because David likes it/she figures it's gotten her attention this long, so if it ain't broke/she thinks it's cute...but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there was something legitimately not quite normal with her.

I feel like in recent times Anna talks more and more like Priscilla.

[weirdemmaline]

wow! What do her finances have to do with a child needing speech therapy? And are we really judging women as weak for how they act in labor?

Any child with any parent could end up needing speech therapy, not that we would know unless we were a speech pathologist evaluating her but that's not the point.

I thought the finance/speech therapy thing was meant more as "they can afford it, why isn't the child receiving it" (unless the kid is receiving it and we know about it, then disregard)

[BrownieMomma]

I saw a bit of the clip from the appearance at FBC Bentonville. This was on a Sunday night, why was Josh & Co there? Does he not have work Monday morning? They were also recently at Big Sandy.

[mpheels]

I saw a bit of the clip from the appearance at FBC Bentonville. This was on a Sunday night, why was Josh & Co there? Does he not have work Monday morning? They were also recently at Big Sandy.

I'm sure FRC gives Josh unlimited time away for anything related to the show or Duggar publicity. His entire job hinges on his presence in the public eye.

[Jana814]

I'm sure FRC gives Josh unlimited time away for anything related to the show or Duggar publicity. His entire job hinges on his presence in the public eye.

Agree about his job (I think the show is the only reason why he even got the job).

[mocoo64]

I may be the only one but I think physically Anna looks the worst out of all of them. She seems tired and doesn't look like she washes her hair. The camera also catches her with less than flattering mouth shots.

[hilee]

I feel bad for Anna, I just get a feeling for some reason Josh has it in him to be a cheater despite his upbringing. Maybe not in a sexual way, but still hand sex maybe?

I feel like they are already treating Anna's pregnancies/births as no big deal. I feel like Jill will be talking about her supposed 70 hour labor for decades. Anna's didn't seem like a walk in the park either.

[CorruptionInc.]

I feel bad for Anna, I just get a feeling for some reason Josh has it in him to be a cheater despite his upbringing. Maybe not in a sexual way, but still hand sex maybe?

I feel like they are already treating Anna's pregnancies/births as no big deal. I feel like Jill will be talking about her supposed 70 hour labor for decades. Anna's didn't seem like a walk in the park either.

Anna and Jill (despite both being fundie brainwashed clones) are actually quite different. I would say Anna is grateful for the healthy child that appears at the end of all the trouble; where as Jill is used to saying and feeling everything in the name of television.

[Guiltygawker]

I'm the last to defend Anna as her googley eyed thing kills me but if Mac's speech issue is just her "r" sound, most speech therapists agree that's a late developing sound and don't do therapy until 7-8 years old.

[flyingxchanges]

Income wouldn't matter for them getting speech therapy for MacK because their state offers an excellent infants and toddlers program that is free to any child who needs it. It's usually determined by the child's doctor if they think the child may need intervention and they set up a meeting with the program. But that brings up another issue....are they actually taking the Ms to a doctor? I'm assuming they have some kind of health care through josh's work. Would they even listen to a doctor? Doubt it. They'd probably just pray on it. It's her quality of speech and pitch of her voice that would worry me versus vocabulary etc. but that's just my opinion.

[MalteseBaby]

What is wrong with Mac(ynzie's) and Priscilla's speech? What would make you say Anna had trouble handling childbirth? She was a trooper and will probably do the same over and over. If it were me, the plan would be in a hospital with instant epidural. Better yet, knock me out and let me know when it's over.

If you don't hear the speech problems with Pris and Mac, then you don't hear them. I'm not going to argue the point.

Anna SHOULD go to a hospital for an epidural and medically assisted delivery, that was my point. She's not a trooper at all, from what I've just seen in flashbacks of her 3 births. TLC aired a 3 hour ( I believe it was) marathon showing some of Michelle's births and Anna's three births as a prelude to the Jill birth episode, which was also very long.

Michelle was the epitome of how to effectively labor, push when it's time to push, and conserve energy and oxygen between contractions. Anna has no instinct for birthing at all, and I'm afraid one of her babies will die if she is left alone in late labor for some reason and a baby is born unassisted.

Anna was in labor for 2 hours with the baby she delivered at the Birthing Center ( I believe this was Marcus).

She had to be driven from home to the birthing center, and this is where TLC captured her on video in early labor. She was moaning and crying and pitching herself around in the SUV on the Interstate highway on the way to the Birthing Center. She was praying and carrying on-and had only been in labor for 2 hours. EARLY LABOR, in other words.

I had seen comments about Michelle looking pissed off in the front seat next to Josh, and wondered if this was true or fan fic. There is some truth to it, however, Michelle was extremely restrained, IMO. If anyone knows that screaming and tossing one's entire body around in a moving vehicle ( or any other place) isn't helpful to an effective labor, Michelle Duggar does.

Anna does not have any birthing instincts!! She cannot handle early labor, she was in panic mode most of the time for her second and third deliveries. Mac may have been her only birth that was mostly calm- not much of it was shown on the special, and I suppose that it didn't contain such dramatic reactions to labor and delivery as the other two babies. IDK.

IMO, she is not, and I mean definitely not, the type of woman who can give birth naturally without extreme emotional trauma. I feel for her in her inability to birth with natural instincts and going with the rhythm of early labor, especially, but she has been shown on national TV in a moaning, crying, shaking heap 2 hours after her labor started. Also, with that same labor, when the SUV taking her to the birthing center arrives and she is helped out and checked, she was only 3 cm. dilated. IOW, she was also clinically in early labor.

The toilet birth also is an example of how she knows and understands so little about birthing at home. The 3 months of Bradley classes should have taught her about perineal and perianal pressure from late transition and crowning to delivery of the infant. But, NOOO, she had probably the filthiest and most uncomfortable birth ever shown on TV- in her bathroom, while being held up by two women over the toilet seat because there was no other option at that point.

Also, I agree with the poster who was commenting on her lack of " getting it" when she asked if her baby would drown if he was born in the birthing pool. This is something she should have known about before the birthing pool or tub or any other water device was even thought about! A baby is usually safe in a water birth as long as the head is lifted up and out of the water before or when he takes first breath. A water birth does have some risk of aspiration pneumonia with it because some midwives can't get some babies' bodies out of the tub or pool fast enough (usually due to poor maternal positioning) and the mother doesn't pull the newly- born baby up herself with her own arms and hands. Anna didn't watch the videos or didn't understand them, or " forgot" while she was in the pool in labor. She's dumb as a box of rocks, IMO.

Maybe you're an Anna fan, but I think she's absolutely clueless and dumb concerning most things in which women in her situation should be well- informed.

If one of her kids gets hurt, she'd run around frantic and let the poor child bleed to death, Has no instincts, no common sense.

I agree with someone else who said she's a copycat. Anna is not a leader of anything, she's a dumb sheep.

This is my opinion, after seeing hours of evidence of her lack of knowledge and general " DUH" attitude to life. It may not be correct or true, but it's how I see her.

[Coco]

Do you think she could be overacting to make their story "interesting"?

Which, let's face it, is also something a person would have to be dumb to agree to do - pandering to the show, but she could be playing up fear for dramatic effect. Just a couple of instances off the top of my head that point to Anna putting on an act are: 1) The stupid way she overreacted to one of the boys getting a splinter when they went to tour Jill and Derick's house and the howlers were sweeping. It was so overdone it had to be on purpose. And, 2) When the trainer came to their house and she brought out canned food pretending that's their normal routine but she SAID they were trying to use more fresh veggies. Just seemed like she was being coached to serve crap food. Oh right and then going along with the obvious deception that Jana wasn't along on their RV trip. wth. :doh:

On the other hand, why wouldn't she want to seem competent birther/wife/housekeeping/etc. to present a "witness" to all the Duggar fangirls out there. Is TLC just telling her to play dumb? She should have known Marcus would be fine underwater. But if she'd never seen youtube videos of babies swimming, her birth hormones might have went into overdrive and caused her to have a dumb reaction without thinking. Everyone does stupid things in labor. :lol:

Not an Anna fan, and agree that she seems less than brilliant, but just wondering if it's a cute act that she thinks adds interest to the J&A storylines.

[Toothfairy]

Anna will never be accepted into the Duggar family. The girl is dumb young and stupid not her fault but shes been programmed from birth to have as many blessings as god gives her. It looks like she's in a competition with herself for child baiting.

[Coco]

I want to hope that it's just an affectation and she's just a bit ditzy and puts on the baby talk because David likes it/she figures it's gotten her attention this long, so if it ain't broke/she thinks it's cute...but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there was something legitimately not quite normal with her.

Poor Pris. She tries SO HARD. And she's been told all her life that women aren't as capable as men. Then she married a guy who gives off all kinds of interesting vibes. And who seems easily frustrated by her in several different ways. Even if she isn't clever she was already at a disadvantage by her training. If David would just get over himself and figure out what makes her feel like she did something right, I think she'd gain confidence and be less affected.

[MarcyMM]

I know you're all going to think I'm crazy, but I actually see a spark of innate intelligence behind her vacant, wide-eyed persona. I see it in Mackenzie too. It's just been beaten out of her for so many years (metaphorically speaking, I hope.) Poor woman doesn't know what she knows! Ya know? Or am I completely alone in this?

[txmommyof4]

I know you're all going to think I'm crazy, but I actually see a spark of innate intelligence behind her vacant, wide-eyed persona. I see it in Mackenzie too. It's just been beaten out of her for so many years (metaphorically speaking, I hope.) Poor woman doesn't know what she knows! Ya know? Or am I completely alone in this?

You are not alone. She isn't allowed to be an intelligent capable woman . I do believe Josh would encourage her to be, however, and probably tries, but she has been taught her entire life that she can't be. So any time she starts feeling intelligent or confident or capable she has to stomp it back down. I think Mack is a smart little girl who will be valued for who she truly is much more than her mother (or her father) ever were.

[MarcyMM]

You are not alone. She isn't allowed to be an intelligent capable woman . I do believe Josh would encourage her to be, however, and probably tries, but she has been taught her entire life that she can't be. So any time she starts feeling intelligent or confident or capable she has to stomp it back down. I think Mack is a smart little girl who will be valued for who she truly is much more than her mother (or her father) ever were.

I sure hope so for Mack's sake at least. Because being smart and trying to cope by holding back and dumbing down could certainly lead to a meltdown eventually. Ignorance is bliss but that won't last long if your brain keeps trying to assert itself.