Jill Dillard on New Season and Being Pregnant

Jill Dillard recently sat down with OKMagazine.com to chat about her pregnancy and the new season of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting, which premiered Tuesday and will run through November. The transcript of the interview is posted below, courtesy of OKMagazine.com. 

OKMagazine.com: Hi Jill. How are you today?
Jill Dillard: Doing pretty good. Feeling pregnant (laughs).

OKMagazine.com: Ok, let’s talk about the pregnancy right off the bat then! How’s it going?
JD: It’s going well. I’m really grateful, and both Derick and I are really excited to be parents and yeah, we’re just enjoying every season of life right now.

OKMagazine.com: I watched the premiere, and it seems like you and Derick have the main storyline this season…
JD: We do, yeah. We’ve had a lot of exciting things happening, and so this season is following us a lot, from preparing for our wedding from our engagement to the wedding, so its going to be a really exciting season.

OKMagazine.com: Are you excited or nervous to see your wedding play out on TV?
JD: Laughs. I am excited. I think I’ll be nervous when I see it. I’ve seen some of the rough cuts, so you get that nervous excitement again, but yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing it. That’s one thing that’s special about having, we call it this home video almost. [The show] is nice edited home video. You get to see it again in a nice format (laughs).

OKMagazine.com: You broke the pregnancy news to your family a month after your wedding. Did anyone in your family react differently than you expected?
JD: No, my whole family was really excited. Of course my sisters were always asking, how are you feeling? Do you think you could be pregnant? So they were the first ones to find out. They’re like, “You know mom has pregnancy tests.” And I said, "I’ve already taken two! They’re negative!" And the one I had taken should’ve showed that I was expecting, but I guess it was still too early, so then one of my sisters was like, “Go upstairs and take one of mom’s.” So we went up there and took one, mostly to prove them wrong, but then we were surprised because I was pregnant (laughs).

OKMagazine.com: So your family suspected your pregnancy even though it was so soon after the wedding?
JD: My sisters did. Typical sisters are going to ask you questions that no one else asks, like, "Wouldn’t it be cool if you got pregnant right away?" And I was like, "Yeah it’d be cool." But we were open to whatever. We weren’t preventing anything, and we were just waiting on God’s timing. It’s just a really neat surprise.

OKMagazine.com: Are you going to find out the gender?
JD: We’re planning to find out the gender. Of course we can’t find it out yet, it’s still early. But yeah, we’re going to do that, and it’ll be announced around the time that we find out.

OKMagazine.com: Oh good. And I assume you’ll be using a midwife since you’re one yourself…
JD: Yeah, I’m training to be a midwife. We will be using a midwife, and I’ll be delivering at home, Lord willing.

OKMagazine: Will the TLC cameras be there to capture the birth?
JD: Well, we’re still talking about that. We’ll see (laughs).
 
OKMagazine.com: Are you going to name all your kids with the same letter as your parents and brother Josh have done?
JD: We’re still talking about that also. I don’t think we’re going to do a letter theme, but we might do a different theme. We’ll see. We’re still talking (laughs).

OKMagazine.com: I read that your sister Jessa is reusing some of your wedding decorations for her big day. Have you been giving her a lot of wedding advice?
JD: Yeah, definitely. As sisters, you’re always talking about those things. Jessa will be using a lot of my decorations, things that we purchased that are universal. And we’ve talked a lot. I think even throughout the relationship, we talked as we were both courting and then me going from courting to engagement and Jessa now being engaged.  And now with her wedding planning, I’m like, “Ok Jess, do this, do that. Don’t forget this.” I took notes during my wedding planning for Jessa, as I knew she was probably going to be the next one getting married.

OKMagazine.com: What do you think sets season eight apart from the other season of 19 Kids & Counting?
JD: I’m really excited about it because people have been asking a lot of questions about wedding planning, and so much changed in our family right now with two relationships, me getting married, now we’re expecting, Josh living in DC. Fans have been getting tidbits through media outlets, but they want to see how things are done Duggar style as far as the wedding goes, and that’s going to be one of the bigger storylines—how everybody was involved with the wedding, what is it like for my parents giving their daughter away, how each sibling is taking it differently. So yeah, I think people will be really happy to follow along and really feel like they’re a part of it all.


Image Credits: People Magazine, TLC

Jill Dillard on New Season and Being PregnantJill Dillard on New Season and Being Pregnant