Kendra (Caldwell) Duggar and husband Joe may have been enjoying their first days with newborn son Garrett, but Kendra’s mom Christina Caldwell was going through some tough times in her own pregnancy.
In Monday’s episode of Counting On, Kendra opened up about her mother’s eighth pregnancy, revealing she had been in a car accident that caused internal damage when she was pregnant with her 19 years prior.
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After Christina looked to be in serious pain walking to the beach on their family vacation, Kendra explained, “My mom is 28 weeks along, and she has always struggled with each pregnancy after having me, because she was in a car accident when she was 36 weeks along with me.”
“It caused a lot of damage, and so, every other pregnancy since then, she has had problems with having contractions prematurely,” she continued.
When Christina revealed that the previous night she had experienced four contractions in just 25 minutes, Kendra reflected on her own experience giving birth for the first time not long ago.
“It wasn’t that long ago I had him in my tummy,” she said of little Garrett. “That was a hard couple days.”
“You did so good though,” Christina reassured her. “I know you were not sure if you could make it through it, but you did amazing.”
Kendra responded, “You just never know your first time what it’s going to be like, so after getting past your first time, it’s like, ‘OK, I know what it’s going to be like next time.’”
That being said, she confided in her mother, she was looking for a little break to recover before getting pregnant again. Being able to connect with her mom about matters like that was invaluable, she added.
“Since I’ve had Garrett, my mom and I have a lot more that we can just talk about,” Kendra told the camera. “I love asking her questions…and other times, I’ll just tell her, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you’ve done this seven times, and you’re about to do it an eighth time!’ It gives me a greater appreciation for everything she’s done for me.”
Christina and her husband Paul Caldwell welcomed their eighth child, son Jesiah Mathew, in January 2018, revealing on Instagram that the complications she was experiencing extended to a knot in Jesiah’s umbilical cord.
“He was a miracle from the beginning due to health complications on my part, and then upon delivery the [doctor] told us it was a miracle he made it [with] the knot in his cord,” Christina shared on Instagram at the time. “Praising the Lord!!”
Counting On airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on TLC.
Photo credit: Facebook/Caldwell Family
