After a harrowing six months in the NICU, Josie Brooklyn Duggar is home. The 19th child if Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar returned to their busy house last week after being born prematurely and fighting for her life ever since. “It is good to be home,” says a laughing Michelle, who set up shop in Little Rock, Ark. “It is surreal to be here. It was such a long time we were away.” Though the baby was released from Arkansas Children’s Hospital in the state’s capital June 3, her homecoming was delayed because of her siblings. Specifically, the 12 of the Duggar children that contracted the chicken pox and had to be separated from her. That’s some contagious stuff right there. Josie Duggar thus spent three more weeks with her mother in a rental house near the hospital until the other children recovered back home with dad. The Duggars are one big, happy and complete family again . Finally, on June 25, mother and child made the over 200-mile road trip from Little Rock to Tontitown, Ark., where the family lives (somehow debt free). They were met by streamers, hand-made “Welcome Home” banners and 17 of Josie’s siblings (oldest son Josh lives on his own with his wife and baby). The last time Michelle was at the Duggar family’s home, they were decorating for the holidays and looking forward to Josie’s expected birth in the spring. But Michelle’s preeclampsia caused an emergency C-section and a dangerous entry into the world for Josie, who was born December 10 at just one pound. The family, whose lives are chronicled on the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting , is now settling into a routine with Josie, now a “chunky” 9 lbs., 1 oz. “She has a double chin now,” she says. “It is so precious.” Welcome home, Josie!
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Josie Duggar Comes Home to the Family
