Counting On – Lauren Swanson Reveals She Struggled To Conceive After Suffering Miscarriage

Counting On stars Lauren Swanson and Josiah Duggar just became first-time parents when Swanson gave birth to their daughter, Bella Milagro, on Friday, November 8th, but the road to parenthood wasn’t easy for the young couple. During this week’s episode of Counting On, Swanson talks about how difficult it was for her and Duggar to conceive after they suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage in October 2018.

“We had been trying for quite a while after the miscarriage, and when we found out we were expecting, literally we were shocked,” the 20-year-old says in a confessional. “I couldn’t believe it and just cried. We were scared, but life is very precious and we are so thankful for this. We may be a little nervous at times, but we’re just going to be grateful.”

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A NEW BABY has arrived! #linkinbio

A post shared by The Duggar Family (@duggarfam) on Nov 11, 2019 at 12:23pm PST

When her sister-in-law Kendra Caldwell found out that Swanson was pregnant again during a family camping trip, she was happy and relieved by the news. Caldwell – who also just gave birth to her second child, Addison Renee – was excited that their due dates were only days apart.

Caldwell also admitted that because Swanson had just experienced a miscarriage, it was difficult to be excited about her own baby when she knew that Lauren and Josiah wanted a child but were having trouble. She says that finding out they were expecting again made her feel better.

After they lost their first child, Asa, to miscarriage and struggled to conceive again, Lauren and Josiah finally revealed they were expecting in May. And, just one month later they told their fans that they were having a little girl.

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Happy Sunday! PC: @masiespace

A post shared by Josiah and Lauren Duggar (@siandlaurenduggar) on Aug 18, 2019 at 1:06pm PDT

But, around that same time, Lauren’s sister-in-law Joy-Anna Duggar suffered her own miscarriage, and Lauren made sure to offer support with special notes and texts filled with words of love and encouragement.

Finally, Lauren and Josiah became parents last week, and they said in a statement to Us Weekly that Bella arrived after a long and difficult labor. The couple noted that when they finally got the chance to see and hold their daughter, all of their pain went away.

Lauren Swanson and Josiah Duggar can’t believe little Bella Milagro is theirs, but they say she is perfect and she has already lived up to her name, which means “beautiful miracle.”

New episodes of Counting On air Tuesday nights on TLC.