Michelle's recorded letter to Jubilee

[snarklover]

The letter that Michelle wrote and then recorded so that it could be played at the funeral is now up on the Duggar Family website. You can listen to it.

 

http://duggarfamily.com/content/home

 

She actually says that whenever she is asked how many kids she has, she will now answer with 20. I guess J'Caleb wasn't enough of a person when she miscarried him. How hypocritical.

[Mais Pourquoi]

I feel like Michelle's grief over her miscarriage has been amplified by fame. Most women I know would not grieve so openly, refer to their miscarried baby as though it had actually lived outside the womb, have a memorial service at a huge church, etc. Certainly not if they asked for privacy. That being said, I refuse to listen to this message, put out for the world to see on their website (wouldn't a private letter, maybe shared with the family, have been enough?). It's just too much. I want to be sympathetic but I can't be anymore. I just want her to take some personal time and not make any press releases and whatnot.

[Witsec7]

What a bunch of antiabortion propaganda. Its not like a dead fetus can get on the interwebnets and listen to it's mothers letter. Another bit of shameless grandstanding.

I do suggest that when the tv exploitation is over Juterus starts doing voices for Veggie Tales.

[skankbiscuit]

I am sickened by the lack of respect Michelle is showing to her baby. If my baby/fetus died and I wrote her a letter, I would not share it with anyone in the world but my husband.

They are just using Jubilee and it's disgusting....

[Witsec7]

Oh and no mention of Caleb. Gone and forgotten.

[JenniferJuniper]

Oh, sweet Jesus, it's even in that insipid, cheerful baby voice of hers. Sickening.

But now we know if the show is to continue, the Duggars want it called 20 Kids and Counting. Or at least 19 with an asterisk.

So sorry Caleb, but Mommy wasn't able to use you for her political purposes back in your (non) day.

End it now TLC.

[ladypuglover]

I am so wholeheartedly agreeing with experiencedd and skankbiscuit. I can't begin to put in words how dirty and nasty it felt listening that letter. :( :evil:

[snarklover]

I just wish I could understand why they say they want privacy, but then go and post something so private on their page for all to hear. The whole fake baby voice while reading a letter to your miscarried fetus and telling her how much she was wanted and how children are a blessing and not a burden or a career ender or whatever the crap it was she said, it just reeks of propaganda and I find it sickening. Let's use our very own spechul preshus snowflake dead fetus to prove to people that babies are wonderful and that life begins in the womb. Well, Michelle, how come J'Caleb doesn't count? He was in your womb too, but because you never got to see his hands and feet and he couldn't be photographed for the world to see, I guess he wasn't speshul enough.

[Witsec7]

I don't have a problem with any woman who has lost a child writing a letter to them, if they have a memory box for the babe they can put it there, add to it if they feel a need. But this letter wasn't written for her child, the wording clearly indicates that it was a political act, giving the public access to it proves without a doubt these people are pandering to their viewers and fans.

:angry-cussingblack:

[Aurora]

Not a career ender? Really? O.m.f.g. That has nothing to do with her situation and nothing to do with her miscarriage. Nothing but a political statement. So sick.

Is the letter transcribed anywhere? I don't have audio.

[Vex]

What really gets me, is that Jubilee is getting more attention as a dead, 16-week old fetus than Josie is despite being alive, an infant, and challenged by innumerable health issues. After all, when they're born, they just become a number. In death, Jubilee has become a martyr for the cause.

The other thing that upsets me is, of course, the fact that little Caleb apparently doesn't count. It's like they're ashamed of him because he was their 'punishment' for not being fundies. If they think of Jubilee as a person, Caleb was no less of one just because he couldn't be media whored and photographed.

I refuse to listen to the letter. It sounds like it's just a political message rather than a sincere method of coping with grief, and I won't reward her with another page view.

[NurseNell]

I am sickened by the lack of respect Michelle is showing to her baby. If my baby/fetus died and I wrote her a letter, I would not share it with anyone in the world but my husband.

They are just using Jubilee and it's disgusting....

Exactly. I listened to it. Michelle's voice never faltered, never cracked. I've never been pregnant but if I had, and I'd had a miscarriage I know I'd be devastated and crying for weeks. No way would I have been able to talk about it without crying. I might write a letter, but it would be private, not shared with anyone but my DH.

This whole situation has made me lose all respect for the Duggars. They are exploiting this pregnancy and miscarriage for all its worth, all the while ignoring the needs of the Josie and their other children. It's just plain sick and disgusting.

[Witsec7]

According to some news outlets the recording of Michelle reading the letter was part of the memorial service.

[MrsKay]

I can't fathom how Michelle could read through that without sobbing or even choking up a bit. Same nauseating Kool-Aid-drunk voice as usual.

I wrote a letter to my twins lost at 16 weeks the morning of my D&E, and a couple later on, for the first couple of anniversaries. They're buried away, with a couple of other mementos, and I think MAYBE my mom might have seen the first letter, but that's it. I don't have an issue with sharing it, but the recording just sounds like a script read by an emotionless droid.

[JenniferJuniper]

I can't fathom how Michelle could read through that without sobbing or even choking up a bit. Same nauseating Kool-Aid-drunk voice as usual.

This is the same woman who filmed her injured child as he lay at the bottom of an orchestra pit with a broken jaw and grinned happily into the camera as he was being carried into the hospital on a stretcher.

She's clearly mentally ill with some type of narcissistic personality disorder. If she's mourning anything it's the fact that she's no longer pregnant and probably the fact that the show may now end sooner than she'd hoped. And I don't think it's about the money for her; I think it's the attention and the fact that she perceives herself now to be some sort of Gothard Goddess. The kids themselves are little more than trophies.

[NurseNell]

She's clearly mentally ill with some type of narcissistic personality disorder. If she's mourning anything it's the fact that she's no longer pregnant and probably the fact that the show may now end sooner than she'd hoped. And I don't think it's about the money for her; I think it's the attention and the fact that she perceives herself now to be some sort of Gothard Goddess. The kids themselves are little more than trophies.

This makes sense.

[JohnDeereGirl11]

So no Caleb well pretty soon Jubilee will be forgotten to and michelle will be pregnant again

[Kailis]

"So often in society, babies are looked upon as a problem, trial, or RESPONSIBILITY*, but God says babies are a blessing..."

*emphasis all my own

A blessing is a gift given. But with certain gifts come responsibility. A life certainly qualifies as a responsibility, no matter how you look at it.

And her voice sounds like the kids I judge forensics for. Specifically, this sounded exactly like a really poorly written solo serious piece. I felt like I was actually judging, staring at the end time, just waiting for it to be, while I furiously write, "You need to think about the words that you are saying. You're saying you lost your child, but I need you to show me!"

I know that miscarriage is a terrible thing to go through, and goodness knows I know that everyone grieves in their own way. But seriously? There is something inherently wrong here.

[Deleted07]

OH MY Gosh, I turned it off within the first 20 seconds... That fact that she sounds so calm and matter of fact, (like she is saying the opening theme of the show) in the tone of her voice sickens me!

I just have no words. I was once willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But anything good I ever felt for them, has now been quash for good. I just hope others can realise how absolutely ridiculous their tirade has become and get them off the damn television.

[Deleted04]

I listened to about five seconds of it. Then shut it off. The sound of her voice never really bothered me before. But now its really starting to get on my nerves. Maybe because I know how phony it is.

[Sola]

"So often in society, babies are looked upon as a problem, trial, or RESPONSIBILITY*, but God says babies are a blessing..."

*emphasis all my own

A blessing is a gift given. But with certain gifts come responsibility. A life certainly qualifies as a responsibility, no matter how you look at it.

And her voice sounds like the kids I judge forensics for. Specifically, this sounded exactly like a really poorly written solo serious piece. I felt like I was actually judging, staring at the end time, just waiting for it to be, while I furiously write, "You need to think about the words that you are saying. You're saying you lost your child, but I need you to show me!"

I know that miscarriage is a terrible thing to go through, and goodness knows I know that everyone grieves in their own way. But seriously? There is something inherently wrong here.

Children ARE a responsibility Michelle. No matter how else you view them, they are a responsibility.

Though why on earth I should think she would agree with me, J'Chelle's responsibilities towards those kids ends at weaning.

[Funky Chicken]

Oh, sweet Jesus, it's even in that insipid, cheerful baby voice of hers. Sickening.

But now we know if the show is to continue, the Duggars want it called 20 Kids and Counting. Or at least 19 with an asterisk.

So sorry Caleb, but Mommy wasn't able to use you for her political purposes back in your (non) day.

End it now TLC.

Wouldn't that be 19 & 16/40 (19.4) Kids and Counting?

[alba]

Ugh, I can't *stand* the baby voice. Does anyone have a link to a transcript so I don't have to listen to it?

Oh and no mention of Caleb. Gone and forgotten.

I'm starting to think J'Caleb never existed. The chance of getting pregnant, knowing you're pregnant, and then miscarrying while on the pill strikes me as pretty slim. To my understanding, some contraceptives might create an inhospitable uterine lining in addition to preventing ovulation and impeding sperm, so in the highly unlikely event that you actually produce a zygote it won't implant and you miscarry within a fortnight of fertilisation. So, yes, it's conceivable to miscarry on the pill if for some reason ovulation isn't wholly suppressed (and it wouldn't really surprise me if J'chelle's eggs were clamouring to escape her ovaries). However, I doubt many women who have only been pregnant once would be able to tell they were pregnant in that short time before the bleeding starts. If the pregnancy lasts longer and the zygote does implant, any miscarriage would, I believe, be unrelated to the pill.

So what do I think happened? I think there are several possibilities. One is that J'chelle, for some reason, believed herself to be pregnant, and then when she experienced breakthrough bleeding she thought it was a miscarriage. Another is that she wasn't very good at taking her pills and really was pregnant, and really did miscarry, and her 'Christian medical doctor' misinformed her as to the cause. Then she swore off BC and proceeded to pop out lots of babies. This is the closest to the tale the Duggars tell, but it also seems least likely to me. If they really were 'pro-life', and really did believe J'Caleb was as much a baby as their existing son, then they would have mourned him, named him, and counted him as one of their children.

More likely is that J'Caleb, either a true miscarriage or a convenient invention, was nothing more than an excuse to wantonly reproduce. I'm inclined towards the 'convenient invention', because as I said before it's difficult to get pregnant on the pill if you're using it properly, and if she *did* get pregnant her reaction, besides the swearing off of BC, doesn't mesh well with her 'a fetus is a baby' beliefs.

Or I'm just a crazy conspiracy theorist and the simplest answer is the correct one.

[garciarodrigez]

Ugh, I can't *stand* the baby voice. Does anyone have a link to a transcript so I don't have to listen to it?

I'm starting to think J'Caleb never existed. The chance of getting pregnant, knowing you're pregnant, and then miscarrying while on the pill strikes me as pretty slim. To my understanding, some contraceptives might create an inhospitable uterine lining in addition to preventing ovulation and impeding sperm, so in the highly unlikely event that you actually produce a zygote it won't implant and you miscarry within a fortnight of fertilisation. So, yes, it's conceivable to miscarry on the pill if for some reason ovulation isn't wholly suppressed (and it wouldn't really surprise me if J'chelle's eggs were clamouring to escape her ovaries). However, I doubt many women who have only been pregnant once would be able to tell they were pregnant in that short time before the bleeding starts. If the pregnancy lasts longer and the zygote does implant, any miscarriage would, I believe, be unrelated to the pill.

So what do I think happened? I think there are several possibilities. One is that J'chelle, for some reason, believed herself to be pregnant, and then when she experienced breakthrough bleeding she thought it was a miscarriage. Another is that she wasn't very good at taking her pills and really was pregnant, and really did miscarry, and her 'Christian medical doctor' misinformed her as to the cause. Then she swore off BC and proceeded to pop out lots of babies. This is the closest to the tale the Duggars tell, but it also seems least likely to me. If they really were 'pro-life', and really did believe J'Caleb was as much a baby as their existing son, then they would have mourned him, named him, and counted him as one of their children.

More likely is that J'Caleb, either a true miscarriage or a convenient invention, was nothing more than an excuse to wantonly reproduce. I'm inclined towards the 'convenient invention', because as I said before it's difficult to get pregnant on the pill if you're using it properly, and if she *did* get pregnant her reaction, besides the swearing off of BC, doesn't mesh well with her 'a fetus is a baby' beliefs.

Or I'm just a crazy conspiracy theorist and the simplest answer is the correct one.

I'm feeling alot the same way you are today about this. I started a thread about it actually. It burns me.

[FrancineFishpaw]

I love how she said that she would say she had 20 children now. She reached that magical number (in her mind) and now she can rest easy. But hear me now, believe me later, she will be pregnant again! I admit I have ridden the fence for a long time-mostly enjoying the Duggars and anticipating the episodes. But this Jubilee media blitz has totally and thoroughly disgusted me. I cannot see TLC going for this either. I think the show is way shortlived!