Joseph And Kendra Duggar Announce Exciting Family News

Surprise! The newest member of the Duggar family has arrived. Joseph and Kendra Duggar put up a new post on their Instagram account on February 23: a photo of them at home, holding their newborn baby daughter. "We are so excited to introduce... Brooklyn Praise Duggar," they announced. 

The joyful parents added that their daughter arrived at 7:48 PM on the 19th, weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces and measuring just over 20" long. "Feeling so grateful and blessed," they wrote. The news was greeted with more than 100,000 likes, including ones from Joseph's sister Jill Duggar Dillard and sister-in-law Anna Duggar. 

This is the third child for Joseph and Kendra, joining 2-year-old Garrett David and 1-year-old Addison Renee. They announced the "tiebreaker" gender reveal in December, joking that "the boys are outnumbered now!" (via US Magazine.) Little Brooklyn is also the 20th grandchild for Jim Bob and Michelle, the parents of the famous 19 Kids and Counting clan and its spinoff, Counting On. She won't be the last, however; Joseph's sister Jessa Seewald recently announced her pregnancy with her own third child, which will up the total to 21. In a fun twist, Kendra's mother is also pregnant at 41, which will make for a unique pair of playmates, to say the least (via CafeMom).

The announcement came sooner than expected

The news of Brooklyn's birth may have come as a surprise to fans who have been following the couple's journey. On February 3, Kendra posted a "date night" photo saying she was 36 weeks along, which suggests that her due date was closer to the end of the month. Then, on the 19th, she posted a photo of herself with her mother shopping for baby clothes, so she must have gone into labor shortly thereafter. 

Like his other married siblings, Joe met Kendra through their church and entered into a short "courtship" — a supervised dating period with marriage as the goal — before wedding. The Duggars are also known for their belief that only God should decide the size of a family, so it's quite possible that this won't be the last child for this couple.

The baby's unusual name is also getting plenty of comments on Joseph and Kendra's feed, ranging from "I love how unique the name is!" to "She's not going to like that middle name." Many have noted that Brooklyn is also the middle name of Joe's youngest sister, Josie. And though Brooklyn is a departure from the Duggar tradition of biblical names (see: Gideon, Israel, Evangeline, Samuel, Grace), her middle name clearly connects to the couple's strong religious faith. They'll probably be doing a little extra praising when all three children start sleeping through the night!