Counting on Season 11: TLC Manufactured Drama While Waiting for Life Events

[nst]

thanks for posting the recap - that means I don't have to watch it and can watch Unfaithfully  Yours while working lol 

[seashell1025]

okay random but did anyone watch the Derricos show tonight? like not gonna lie i like it a lot ... more than i probably should. but. theyre not cult-like, ya know. and like a solid family. they even mentioned in tonights episode that though their oldest daughter is a good helper, they dont want her to miss out on being a child. to which was definitely another win for me haha

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

I just happened to see part of Lauren's birth episode, they asked Jill to be there for support.   

[marmalade]

But she wasn't shown on camera, except for her hands. And you could hear her voice (she was also captioned).

[Four is Enough]

• There is so much about this show that I really despise... I mean... showing the births when the kids are probably walking by now? I just can't with these people.

[Tangy Bee]

33 minutes ago, Four is Enough said:

• There is so much about this show that I really despise... I mean... showing the births when the kids are probably walking by now? I just can't with these people.

And what gets me is watching really rough labor and finding out they are pregnant again by next year. Caught a glimpse of poor Kendra in  labor before her daughter was born. Was really surprised at how much footage they allowed us to see. Jo appeared to be very concerned about her  pain and discomfort.The whole time I'm thinking that this is the life she is choosing so she better just suck it up. I know that sounds very rude, but it's really hard for me to feel bad for them sometimes. But one thing I appreciate is them being open and honest about each laboring experience. They will have many different stories to tell over the years.

[FluffySnowball]

1 hour ago, Four is Enough said:

• There is so much about this show that I really despise... I mean... showing the births when the kids are probably walking by now? I just can't with these people.

That’s what baffles me, too! Why’s there such a delay on Counting On when it comes to the births and weddings, but especially the births!? 

There are Youtubers who edit their own birth vlogs within days or a few weeks max, and who present well-edited and professional-looking videos. And TLC with their professionals cannot do it earlier? How old is Bella now, a year? Her birth seems so long ago and isn’t really interesting, let alone news. 

In general, I’m no fan of the birth episodes because I find them invasive and I don’t think the women really have the option to say no. But if they are included in the show, it should be executed well. So airing a birth special shortly after each featured birth would be a good option IMO. 

[Coconut Flan]

What is worse to me is that TLC edits and puts the births on TLCgo within days or a couple of weeks at most and then adds in a few scenes and some filler and shows as part of the current season 8 to 10 months later.  

[FluffySnowball]

18 minutes ago, Tangy Bee said:

I know that sounds very rude, but it's really hard for me to feel bad for them sometimes. 

I understand what you mean! It’s a murky path sometimes between their free choice and the life they have been indoctrinated to lead. Still, I hope and assume that each Duggar daughter and daughter-in-law is permitted to choose an epidural. Jinger has had one, for instance, so I guess it’s an option. Some women just seem to want to go unmediated I reckon.

Personally, if I attempted to go natural, I’d never do so in front of cameras. The mere imagination of being in a lot of pain while being filmed is just stressful for me! But I hope Lauren, Kendra and all the others felt happy and empowered with however they birthed their babies. 

[JMO]

On 8/11/2020 at 12:45 PM, lexiloumarie said:

I didn't realize how far along Jinger was. I was assuming 5-6 weeks. 10+ is a later first trimester miscarriage. 

I thought the same thing. I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks and I was devastated.  It's a sad loss at any point but after seeing the heartbeat and dealing with insane nausea etc it seemed extra cruel. Especially since she felt safe enough to tell everyone.  I'm glad that Michelle and Jana went out to visit her.

[justmy2cents]

3 hours ago, FluffySnowball said:

In general, I’m no fan of the birth episodes because I find them invasive and I don’t think the women really have the option to say no.

I couldn't imagine being filmed during labor. Abbie opted out of being filmed during delivery so I hope that each woman does have a choice.

[Sullie06]

Ooof I feel for Jinger. Even though I despise their belief system, nobody should have to go through pregnancy loss.  I had two of my three losses late first trimester (10wks and 12wks) and it was so hard because both times I thought I was basically in the clear. With my second loss I found out at my 3rd ultrasound after two previous good ones. 

[Ever]

27 minutes ago, Sullie06 said:

Ooof I feel for Jinger. Even though I despise their belief system, nobody should have to go through pregnancy loss.  I had two of my three losses late first trimester (10wks and 12wks) and it was so hard because both times I thought I was basically in the clear. With my second loss I found out at my 3rd ultrasound after two previous good ones. 

I’m with you. I’ve had four losses (no living babies)  3 between 6-8 weeks and 1 at 10 weeks. I was on fertility treatments for years so each pregnancy was monitored closely from conception. (How I knew the losses at 6 and 7 weeks) It’s really hard when you’re SO close to the safer zone. ♥️

[nst]

you know I would be into Michelle telling me all about her menopause - now that would be entertaining. 
 

 

[Sullie06]

3 minutes ago, Ever said:

I’m with you. I’ve had four losses (no living babies)  3 between 6-8 weeks and 1 at 10 weeks. I was on fertility treatments for years so each pregnancy was monitored closely from conception. (How I knew the losses at 6 and 7 weeks) It’s really hard when you’re SO close to the safer zone. ♥️

I'm so sorry for your losses. We had to do fertility treatments as well so I knew I was pregnant super early. You always hear "once there is a heartbeat your in the safe zone", not true. 

[princessmahina]

I’m new to watching counting on via the to  website. So many episodes of the latest season are locked— are they going to be unlocked when the next season starts? Is this a trend? 
 

Ive watched 19 seasons of Star Trek in the last 20 months and I need a distraction from it. 

[just_ordinary]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:45 AM, princessmahina said:

I’m new to watching counting on via the to  website. So many episodes of the latest season are locked— are they going to be unlocked when the next season starts? Is this a trend? 
 

Ive watched 19 seasons of Star Trek in the last 20 months and I need a distraction from it. 

I don’t know. Strange creatures in a strange universe...... it isn’t too far off.

[Chewing Gum]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:45 AM, princessmahina said:

I’m new to watching counting on via the to  website. So many episodes of the latest season are locked— are they going to be unlocked when the next season starts? Is this a trend? 
 

Ive watched 19 seasons of Star Trek in the last 20 months and I need a distraction from it. 

You can find a lot of episodes on YT, i always watch/fastforward them the week after airing.

[llg1234]

Counting On Season 11 Episode 7 "Highs and Lows"
 

Jinger's miscarriage is discussed throughout the episode.

Part 1

Spoiler

Jinger and Jeremy are at home and Felicity is eating olives. Jeremy leaves for work. They had recently told Jinger's family that she was expecting, but later that night she kept waking up and was having a lot of spotting. She called her mom in the morning and Michelle had had something similar happen, but was able to keep the baby (no mention of which pregnancy this was). She tells Jinger to go to the doctor, but when they did the ultrasound there wasn't a heartbeat and they were told they lost the baby. She's been feeling better, it's mostly just been getting over the emotional pain. Jeremy says it can be harder on the woman, since "she was carrying that life within her." As hard as it was for him, he says it must have been much worse for Jinger. He's been trying to be there for her and help out more around the house. It's brought them closer as a family and has made them appreciate Felicity that much more.

Ben and Jessa are getting everyone ready to leave so that he can have laser eye surgery. Ben explains to the boys that he's going to get his eyes fixed so that he doesn't need to wear glasses anymore. Henry looks at him like he's crazy. Ben has been wearing glasses since he was 7 years old. His vision is currently really bad at around 20/400. A friend got laser surgery done and said it was life changing, so he finally decided to get it done himself. He wore contacts most of the time when he and Jessa started courting, but eventually switched back to glasses due to the contacts irritating his eyes. The producer asks who else wears glasses (Ben, Tyler, Jenny, Joy, Josie). JB is supposed to wear reading glasses, but he lost them. Jessa worries that the procedure won't be successful, since some people still don't have perfect vision afterwards. Ben goes back to the operating room and is prepped with numbing eye drops.

The specific procedure Ben is having is called SMILE (explanation here: https://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/smile.htm). The doctor talks Ben through the procedure. Meanwhile, Jessa is trying to keep her 3 kids quiet in the waiting room. She thinks she probably should have gotten a babysitter. The procedure is finished and a nurse/tech asks Ben if he can read the hands on the clock. He says it's six something and that he's bad at reading the hands on clocks (I feel like that is an important skill to have, especially is you're teaching children). He's amazed he can just get up and walk out to the waiting room on his own. Dr. Vold says the procedure went really well. Ben donates his glasses, since he won't need them anymore. They go home and he's already seeing much better. He goes to sleep early.

At Jeremy's office, he meets up with a dude named Bob to load up some tables and chairs from the church. He's throwing a surprise birthday party for Jinger's 26th birthday. She's been through a lot of changes the past couple of years (getting married, moving, have a baby, etc), so he wants to make her feel special. Jeremy heads over to his friends', the Mahoneys, house which is where the party is going to be held. Madeline (from the time they went to a juice bar) is there and he brings in the tables and chairs. He says, "[Jinger] is a very unsuspecting person. Like, she's not the personality to pull the thread until, you know, you unweave the whole sweater." Getting everything secretly planned has been a bit difficult, since there are a lot of moving parts. JB, Michelle, Jana, Benessa, and Laura are all coming in town for the party. Rather than having everyone jump out and yell surprise, he's going to have some musicians playing 'Happy Birthday' while people sing to her. The Duggars and Seewalds come in the next day, so he's going to pick them up while Jinger is at her photography class.

Jeremy suggested this class to Jinger since she loves photography and it will keep her busy while he gets the party ready. Her friend Madison Mahoney is going with her. They meet up with the teacher, Laura Norcia. They're going to use their phones for this class, then print and develop them in a dark room. Jinger has only done digital, so she's excited about using a dark room for the first time. They take pictures of Felicity. Jeremy arrives at the hotel where Jinger's family is staying. Michelle is really happy to be there, since she hasn't been able to see Jinger in person since the miscarriage. Jessa says that Jeremy has done a great job of surprising Jinger in the past (when he showed up at the restaurant while they were still dating, the engagement, her baby shower, etc), so she thinks this will be successful. Ben says that she's a very unsuspecting person, so it's easy to surprise her. Jeremy has had to delete a lot of conversations so that Jinger won't find out. They know each others passwords, so he has to be careful that she won't see anything related to the party (this episode is not going age well if Jeremy ever cheats).

Part 2

Spoiler

Jinger and Madison arrive at the photographer's place so they can convert the pictures they took on their phones into film. They use a filter to turn the pictures into black and white and print them out onto film. Laura (the teacher) has the dark room in her closet, which Jinger thinks is really inspirational, since it's something she could also do at home herself. The pictures turn out quite nice and Jinger enjoyed the experience. She arrives home and Jeremy tells her that he got a babysitter for Felicity so that he could take her out to dinner. He tells her to go get ready and put on a new dress she had gotten before. They haven't been on a date in awhile, so Jinger is really excited and tears up. Jeremy whispers to the camera that she has no idea the dinner is going to be with 30 of her friends and family.

Back in AR, Joy, Austin, John, and Abbie are in downtown Fayetteville to see the Christmas lights and take a carriage ride. Abbie is about 6 weeks away from her due date. The two couples see each other quite a bit since they have a lot in common. JD and Austin are both pilots and into construction, Joy and Abbie are both adventurous. The carriage ride is really nice and they think they should make it a tradition to do this every year. JD and Abbie are going to make it a tradition to open presents on Christmas Eve and have a nice dinner together. Joy and Austin don't really have any traditions since Gideon is still small. Various Duggars tell us their favorite holiday traditions. The carriage ride ends and they get some hot chocolate. They talk about how John and Abbie are going to parents soon. Joy thinks it's weird giving John parenting advice, since he's a lot older than her. She thinks he's going to be a good dad, since he's always been a great brother and uncle. Babies are a lot of fun, but they change the dynamic of marriage. Austin says to enjoy the newborn stage and every month.

The babysitter arrives at Jinger and Jeremy's place. They tell Felicity bye and get in the car. Jeremy tells Jinger she needs to put a blindfold on. She doesn't want to mess her makeup up, so she puts it on herself and hopes the drive isn't too long. At the Mahoney home, everything is ready. The drive to the house isn't very long, so Jeremy took a longer route to try and throw Jinger off, since she's "a walking GPS." They arrive and Jinger takes her blindfold off. They walk through the door and she's very surprised to see all of her friends. As a second surprise, the Duggars/Seewalds then come out. Jeremy wanted to to let Jinger know how much people love and appreciate her. She's incessantly selfless. They have dinner and people take turns giving speeches. Michelle she remembers the day Jinger was born, it was their first home birth. Michelle gives a speech about how she's grown up into a Godly young woman. Jeremy then presents Jinger with his gift to her: a painting of her reading to Felicity. It was done by a friend of theirs. They cut the cake and enjoy the rest of the evening.

While they're all still in LA, the women go with Jinger to a coffee shop. Michelle wishes she could have been there when Jinger had her miscarriage. She didn't go right away because Jinger told her she had people helping out, like Jeremy's sister. She's glad they're here at this point, because it's still encouraging to have people around her. Joy wanted to come as soon as she heard what happened. She texts Jinger often to let her know she's praying for her. Jessa talks about how it was difficult to not be with her. Michelle knows that everyone grieves differently, some people want space while others want everyone around them. She can empathize with what Jinger is going through, since she also lost her second pregnancy.

Next week: ugly sweater Christmas party, Jinger and Jeremy get a Christmas tree, the Duggars have a Christmas pageant

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by llg1234

[Idlewild]

Sounds like an awful lot of Jeremy in those episodes...

I never understand parents who think it’s a good idea to take small children to hospital waiting rooms- especially when they have an army of babysitters like Jessa has.

Photography has always been Jinger’s ‘thing’ - has she never taken a class before??

[Cate32]

2 hours ago, llg1234 said:

JD and Austin are both pilots and into construction,

Wait, what?!

[Bad Wolf]

Seriously? It was a Christmas episode now? In mid August? No wonder I never watch this show. Well, that and we don't have cable.

[justmy2cents]

Random fact. I have these same earrings that Jinger is wearing at the end of the episode.

 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

I'm sure this is unpopular but I thought Jeremy planning the big surprise party for Jinger was very sweet.  I'm constantly amazed at how close Jinger & Michelle are, Michelle has a genuine affection for Jinger that she doesn't seem to have with any of the other kids, except maybe Jana. 

Joy & Austin & JD & Abbie seem like such natural friends and yes it is very weird for 21 yr old joy to be giving parenting advise to her 30 year old brother. 

Oh & Mr Names who NEVER watches the show, saw about 2 minutes and was like WTF is with mom and dad pedo enabler being back on? Even he realizes how fucked it is they are back. 

Edited August 19, 2020 by allthegoodnamesrgone

[PumaLover]

As @Idlewild said, I am baffled at why they took two toddlers and a baby to a doctor's office, to sit in the waiting room, when she has more family members in her immediate area that could watch them than I actually have. They're going to be bored! Made for TV I guess ?

It seemed to be a relatively quick surgery and in the early evening but still. 

Thats as far as I've gotten. In one of the previews it looked like Jinger was wearing a fur coat. Anyone else notice that?