No Home Birth for Abbie Duggar! The ‘Counting On’ Star’s Birth Plan Included a Hospital Visit

No home birth for Abbie Duggar (née Burnett)! In the Counting On webisode that showed her and husband John David Duggar welcoming their new daughter, Grace, the star headed to the hospital once it was time. While she labored at home for several hours, the couple revealed in the episode that their birth plan included both an epidural and serious medical professionals.

Though nothing went wrong, it wasn’t an easy process. Abbie, 27, spent a grand total of 36 hours in labor. After the first 18 hours at home, John, 30, revealed that his wife’s contractions were about 4-8 minutes apart. Next up was a doctor’s visit where the parents-to-be found out that the Duggar daughter-in-law was 3 centimeters dilated. From there, the duo headed to the hospital, where they hit the 24-hour mark.

When it got to the point where the first-time mom was 30 hours into her labor and only 5 centimeters dilated, doctors decided to speed the process along with Pitocin, a drug that can induce or accelerate labor. The TLC star also got an epidural. Just a few hours later, she was ready to push — and, eventually, little Grace Annette Duggar made her way into the world at 3:21 a.m.

Though the nurse isn’t the first member of the Duggar family to have a hospital birth, she is one of the few who planned on it from the beginning. Most of the daughters and daughters-in-law seem to prefer home births, only seeking medical help once something has gone wrong. Amongst them, the moms share some seriously scary horror stories.

When Jill Dillard (née Duggar) gave birth to son Israel, she spent more than 70 hours in labor and was eventually rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section when they realized the baby was breech. Jessa Seewald (née Duggar) labor with son Spurgeon lasted for 48 hours that included an unplanned hospital stay where she was given an epidural and a blood transfusion after heavy bleeding.

In comparison to her sisters, Joy-Anna Forsyth (née Duggar) had a short 20-hour labor at home before she, too, realized her baby was breech and headed to the hospital for her own emergency C-section. When it was her turn, however, Lauren Duggar (née Swanson) planned on a hospital stay, but things still got more complicated than expected. While giving birth to baby Bella, she ended up requiring not just one, but two epidurals to make it through.