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"God has answered our prayers"
Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard are expecting the arrival of a rainbow baby after suffering a miscarriage.
The couple announced the pregnancy on the Dillard Family blog on Sunday, "We've been keeping a little secret!" the blog post began, "Ever since we were devastated last fall by the miscarriage of our sweet baby, River Bliss, we have prayed that, if it was God's will, he would bless us with another baby."
"We are excited to announce that God has answered our prayers and we are expecting our rainbow baby due July 2022! We are so thankful for a healthy baby and pregnancy so far and we look forward to finding out the gender soon!" the Dillards concluded.
The 31-year-old and her husband, who tied the knot back in 2014, share sons Israel, 6, and Samuel, 4. Jill and Derek shared in October 2021 they had lost the pregnancy of their third child.
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"We recently found out we were expecting our third baby," Jill captioned a video highlighting the details of their third pregnancy. "We were thrilled! However, a few days later we started miscarrying. We love and miss you River Bliss!"
At the time, the couple explained the meaning of the name that belonged to their unborn child on their family blog.
"One meaning for River is 'tranquil,' and here in Arkansas, rivers are often a serene, beautiful escape in nature," they explained.
"We also like how the River talked about in the Bible (Rev. 22:1-5) represents God's life-giving presence. The river of life (Holy Spirit), 'flows from the throne of God,' and with the tree of life is 'for the healing of the nations,'" the post continued. "Our baby doesn't get to live here with us on earth, but is forever with the source of the river of life, in the presence of the Lord!"
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The former reality stars made their debut into the public eye on TLC's "19 Kids and Counting" which followed the Duggar family. Duggar and Dillard last appeared on the show's spinoff series "Counting On" before they made the decision to leave the show in 2017.
Back in 2020, the couple admitted in a Q&A style YouTube Video that they had distanced themselves from Jill's family since their departure from the show.
"We left the show three years ago because basically our family goals that we had for ourselves didn't align with what we found out," Jill explained. "We ended up finding out that we didn't have as much control over our lives as it related to the show and stuff as we felt like we needed. We had to make a decision at that time to kind of put the show aside just to pursue our own goals."
