Sunday, March 3, 2019

Josiah and Lauren's Heartbreak

Josiah Duggar and Lauren Duggar miscarriage

Tomorrow on an hour-long episode of Counting On, Josiah and Lauren Duggar open up about their recent miscarriage. Last week, we watched them excitedly share their pregnancy news with their families. Everyone was over-the-moon for this new couple and their expectant little one, especially Lauren's parents, who had their youngest child last spring. On tomorrow's episode, we will watch Josiah and Lauren share the heartbreaking news of their loss (video and showtimes below).

Monday, March 4, 2019
8pm: Sleepless in Laredo
9pm: Love and Loss NEW!
Ready, Set, Brake! Jessa, Lauren, Kendra, and Jana pair off with some of the younger kids to go head to head in creating a groom's cake for John and Abbie's wedding. Later, Josiah and Lauren's world is shaken when the reveal some tragic news.
60 min


Tuesday, February 26, 2019
12am: Sleepless in Laredo
1am: Love and Loss



Photo courtesy duggarfamily.com/Josiah and Lauren Duggar; video courtesy TLC

90 comments:

  1. Anna had a miscarriage but there was hardly a mention of it on the show. I wonder why they're making this miscarriage the focus of an episode. I also wonder if there have been other miscarriages that were kept completely quiet.

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    1. I'm not sure why they're going this route. Perhaps Anna didn't WANT to talk about it on national TV. If sharing helps Lauren and Josiah then by all means they should talk about it.

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    2. I agree, it's up to the individual on how they deal with things. Lauren said it helped to talk about it, and she was hoping that it would help other people going through similar experiences.

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    3. My prayers continue to go out to Lauren and Josiah. How heartbreaking.... God grant them His peace

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    4. Anna had said that since they hadn’t announced their pregnancy to anyone including their family before they had their miscarriage, it made talking about it very difficult for her. That’s why they didn’t talk about it until a few years later on 19 kids. Also the way people talked about miscarriages even just five years ago is very different than now.

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    5. Maybe they had to address it because they had already filmed the pregnancy reveal? But still, they could have edited that out and replaced it with more thrift store shopping or food tasting.

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    6. Ratings. Plain and simple. Exploiting the sorrow of a life lost....

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    7. If I remember correctly, Anna chose not to go public with her miscarriage for quite some time. She researched and found that it is quite common and then made the decision to go public on the Today Show I believe, after realizing that her story might possibly help someone else.

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    8. It's not even the same show.

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    9. It's like they were forced into having to make this public as they showed the announcement episode last week. Josh & Anna hadn't made a televised announcement so it was just a simple segment stating that they had lost a baby. I do wonder how far Lauren was into the pregnancy before announcing it to the family. Lots of people wait until after the first trimester has pasted.

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    10. This should make them think about waiting to announce the next pregnancy until the first trimester is over. This sounded like they told everyone before even going to a doctor. Sad but not unusual.

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    11. When was Anna's miscarriage?

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    12. I totaly agree with 10:49. It just really depends on the person suffering the loss and you really can't judge. Some people grieve better by sharing their grief, but that's not something everyone would do

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    13. anon@10:49- Talking about it with family and friends can be definitely therapeutic. I'm not sure about the benefits of making it part of a TV show where you're getting paid to share your lives with perfect strangers. I quesiton just how healthy it is to be a part of having a camera record your private lives for public consumption. Lauren is very young. I feel sorry for her getting caught up in the Duggar media machine.

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    14. I'm guessing they left that up to them to decide if they wanted it aired. Obviously they filmed Lauren's announcement, but maybe Anna's m/c took place before they told anyone she was pregnant, so they just kept it quiet until later.Really it ought to be up to the woman to decide whether it's something she wants to share or not. There's definitely a need for women to hear from others who've gone through it so that they know they're not alone. That seems to be Lauren's reason for speaking up.

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    15. They were not forced to share their story. They CHOSE to.

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    16. The producers can only film what the duggars allow them to. This was obviously their choice

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    17. So sad to hear about their tragedy. Praying for you guys.

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    18. Lots of prayers going out for josiah and lauren

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    19. maybe there is no other news to cover since there are no courtships, weddings, pregnancies, etc. sounds crazy but could be true. They need some more stories which could be as simple as what jobs the older kids have, hobbies, interests, Joyanna's family since we haven't seen them in awhile, etc

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    20. Media machine? Again, lauren is not being forced to speak. And it is her choice to be on this show. Nobody is making her

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    21. @7:30 Seeing a doctor doesn’t = healthy, fullterm pregnancy. What kind of comment is that? You are stating that the joy of pregnancy should only be acknowledged if there is an certain statistical datum suggesting the baby will not die, as if a statistic is a definite predictor. You also seem to imply that shielding friends and family from knowing the sadness they should be comforting a grieving mother through is most important. Yuck. Just yuck.

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    22. 7:08- While she might not be "forced" to be on the show, there is a reasonably good chance that she would feel a certain amount of pressure to do so. For starters, it's an income. Secondly, she is very young and maybe isn't entirely comfortable making decisions for herself. And it is a media machine when you crank out reality TV episodes that are more scripted than not.

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    23. Anon 12:18. I tend to agree with you. The Duggar clan has been making a living off the TV show for so long that they simply turn everything that happens into an episode. I think Lauren felt rather compelled to do the segment regarding her miscarriage because that's "how the Duggars" do things. We often end up doing things due to family pressure that is just THERE although you aren't told to do it exactly, it's just expected of you.

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    24. @7 30. We shared before the first trimester was over, we wanted people to be happy with us and we wanted people to mourn with us. I ended up losing the baby and having that support network was crucial. Every couple should decide for themselves if they want to share early. I am also glad they are openly talking about it. So much about this used to be hush hush. It was healing for me to know I was not alone.

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  2. How long is this going to be dragged out?

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    1. AT least two more weeks. I don't like the way TLC airing this over and over. Smacks of exploitation for ratings.

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  3. That sounds like a very sad episode.

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  4. These girls really need to keep their pregnancy news private until they are past twelve weeks. They said they had only found out two days before they told the family, and then the miscarriage happened so they were just a few weeks pregnant and at the stage when most miscarriages happen, many women don't even realise they are pregnant. People are encouraged to talk about it more these days which is a good thing, and if Lauren wants to talk thats good, I just hope she hasn't felt pressure to go on TV and talk for the show.

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    1. You know, I don't blame them for being so excited that they wanted to tell everyone right away. She will live and learn, but every woman should have the right to share her pregnancy news whenever she wants to without being scolded for it.

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    2. Ok. Please clarify...

      What part of revealing a pregnancy right away and subsequently sharing news of a miscarriage is the problem meant to be avoided?

      Are we trying to keep others from having to feel grief with us? Is that emotion taboo and meant only for the expectant parents to feel alone?

      Are we trying to not get people’s hopes up about a baby, as if it wasn’t really a baby at all if it died before a certain gestation?

      Are we trying to make sure the mama has every opportunity to enter a depression by making her stay isolated with her experience?

      Are we just trying to avoid an awkward situation?

      Are we trying not to disappoint others?

      I don’t get it. Obviously everyone needs to announce pregnancy when they choose, but to outright say it is ONLY wise to announce after the 12 week mark is absolutely, condescendingly, disgustingly ridiculous.

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    3. Anon @ 11:57 Where in my post did I say any of the things you raised in your post? It is fine to tell family as soon as you wish, and to have their love and support at a difficult time, but to allow TLC film and to air it is another thing entirely. I am sure that when Lauren gets pregnant again she and Josiah will not be so quick to annouce it to the world. I have had many friends who lost a baby and with the next one kept the news to themselves and close family until way past 12 weeks, and everyone understood why.



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    4. You said “these girls really need to keep their pregnancy news quiet until past 12 weeks,” and I asked for the reason why you said that, since you didn’t not supply it initially or even in your second comment. I gave examples of what could be behind your comment and was awaiting your own clarification.

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  5. I think it was Lauren and Josiah's decision to share it in this way. The only part that bothers me is that the producers made them narrate the flashbacks to when they were excited about the pregnancy. I think that is insensitive.

    I am willing to bet some of the others girls have had miscarriages in addition to Anna, but they chose not to share it with the general public.

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  6. I feel this young couple have been very brave talking about such a personal & tragic loss on national tv, & I feel it can be hugely beneficial for others to know these tragic events can happen to even young healthy women. I truly hope they are allowed to grieve without the intrusion of the public & the nasty comments that can so often be levied against this family. Lauren & Josiah deserve love, kindness, prayers & privacy & I truly hope they get those things from the public that genuinely care for them. God bless this lovely young couple at this very sad time.

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  7. Hmmm, interestingly ponderable. Anna's miscarriage only came out after it was announced that she was pregnant with Michael, and she had Mackynzie already. Are miscarriages more painful when it's your first pregnancy? Or more talk-about-able?

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    1. I think it varies. In my case, my first miscarriage was way more easy to handle than my second one, but not many people knew about either. It was just too close to my heart to talk about.

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    2. I don't think they are less painful if its not your first baby, but if you have other children that need you to look after them then you have something else to think about, and you have those children to hold on to. Yes it is probably a bit easier to talk about, but its different for everyone. I also think being in a huge family where there is so much emphasis placed on pregnancy and having babies must make the loss more acute, and Jessa and Lauren were due at the same time, so there will always be that reminder.

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    3. I don’t think where the miscarriage occurs in your timeline of pregnancy history makes it easier to talk about. I think how much time has passed since the miscarriage occurred makes it easier to talk about, as evidenced by Anna talking about hers later down the road.

      I miscarried my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 11th pregnancies. None of them were any easier than the first.

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  8. I think it is great they are talking about it. The more people talk about it the more you realise you are not alone when you do go through it. 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage which is heartbreaking. I too myself went through an early miscarriage. I had an ultrasound and was measuring 5 weeks 3 days though I should have been at least 6 weeks started miscarrying 3 days later. It was so painful. It would be so hard for Lauren with Jessa being due on her due date. I do hope they fall pregnant again. I miscarried in the beginning of October and found out I was pregnant again late November and am now 16 weeks with a healthy pregnancy. Thinking of you Lauren.

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  9. Miscarriage is a 100% natural occurrence. Sad, but should be looked at as God’s way of dealing with an h viable pregnancy. Lauren’s baby was most likely not even implanted in the uterus yet. She had a positive test, but most likely not a detectable heartbeat yet. The embryo most likely passed very shortly after conception.

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    1. Firstly I am a Registered Nurse. The body does not produce the pregnancy hormone hCG (the hormone pregnancy tests test for) until the embryo has implanted into the uterus. That hormone is not produced at conception. Whilst there may not be a detectable heartbeat, in order for that hormone to be detected it must be implanted into the uterus. Whilst miscarriage is a natural occurrence it is very very heartbreaking.

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    2. Miscarriage should be looked at as a young life lost too soon. All those 'most likelys' don't change the fact that Lauren lost her baby.

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    3. I....what??!! No. Just no. Implantation must have occurred for HCG to be detected on a home pregnancy test. The baby was there. A new human genome forms within 11 hours of sperm meeting egg.

      If you’re going to approach an emotionally sensitive topic with science in the hopes of de-sensitizing it, at least make sure your science is accurate.

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  10. Just sending them love, love, love. You are in my prayers Josiah and Lauren.

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  11. Watching this couple revealing their loss isn't my idea of entertainment. I'll be giving this show a miss.

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  12. I really don't like the way TLC is milking this tragedy. I fear that this young couple are being taken advantage of during their time of grief.

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  13. I think its wonderful that they are talking about this. Too many times women have suffered in silence. Hopefully this will show them they are not alone.

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    1. Women suffer in silence? This is 2019, not 1819. TLC has a whole program devoted to popping pimples. There's hardly a medical thing that isn't discussed openly or shown publicly these days.

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    2. While some women talk about it, others feel reluctant to say, "hey, I had a miscarriage." It is sometimes too personal or hurtful to talk about. Some might find it embarrassing to talk about. I did not talk about mine very much at all, including to family. So yes, some women do suffer in silence.

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  14. I'm so sorry for them... I had a miscarriage about 2 months ago and it is the most devastating thing that could ever happen! Apparently it happens in 25% of pregnancies but people don't talk about it.

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    1. People talk about it all the time! You just did, too.

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  15. I remember the spectacle that was made about Jubilee..funeral, burial, all the trimmings. Why not with Lauren's experience? What did she do, flush it down the toilet?
    I think this should be a private matter. After making an announcement about the event; that should PUBLICLY be IT.

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    1. Jubilee was born at a much later stage in Micelle's pregnancy and could be identified. I'm not sure that it was possible to recognize the fetus when Lauren miscarried.

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    2. I don't understand how they said they were looking forward to seeing their baby one day in heaven. Since she miscarried in her first trimester, wouldn't it be an embryo or a fetus that they're looking forward to meeting?

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    3. They were at 2 different gestations. Whilst Lauren was pregnant she wasn't very pregnant. As someone who has miscarried at a similar gestation what you see is very different (i.e not possible for you to take photo's of the fetus/baby like they did with Jubilee). For me I buried my baby in my backyard, near where I buried my cat a few years earlier so they could be together. It really is up to the mother what she choses to do with the baby at that gestation.

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    4. I agree to much personal informstion was released. Lauren said she was cramping and when she looked in the toilet there was the baby. I am a nurse and at the stage Lauren was at in pregnancy there would have been nothing recognisable as a baby, just blood, and a small amount of unidendifiable tissue, more like a heavy period, using the term baby is being very dramatic. I understand that to Lauren it was a baby, and she had probably already started thinking about all the exciting things that go with a new baby. Its heartbreaking, but some details need to be kept private.

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    5. Why the flush it down the toilet remark? Is that what you would say to Lauren herself? Good grief. This world.

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    6. At Lauren's stage of pregnancy an embryo or fetus wouldn't be big enough to been identified with the naked eye. All she saw was blood. To her it was a "baby" and she was expressing her feels as she was speaking.

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    7. You can bury a miscarriage in a yard? I thought it was supposed to be treated like biohazard medical waste, up to a point where you need to have a certificate of stillbirth and things would have to be handled like human remains according to the law. ???

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    8. I agree with too much information was told with Lauren miscarriage. It seems like it was done all for ratings for the show. There was no need for all details. I don't think most viewers wanted to hear all that. It is a shame that that is how these young couples make their living by putti my all their personal life on tv.

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    9. Anon 7:08 They believe that it was a person so they expect to meet the "person" she miscarried in heaven. It's a common belief among Christians.

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    10. I have miscarried several babies. The first one was very shortly after I was married; the baby was absolutely no further along than 7 weeks, and I never even got a positive pregnancy test (although I certainly took them as I had plenty of pregnancy symptoms). And please excuse if this is “tmi”, but I clearly saw my baby. It was NOT just “blood” or “tissue”. Sure, it was still developing, but I could identify the eyes, head, spine, and other body parts. It was a real person and clearly defined. Definitely bigger and more developed than what the sources say for 7 weeks. So it’s absolutely possible for Lauren to have seen her baby.

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    11. Since many people believe we have souls and that it is the soul that goes to the afterlife, it is the soul of the unborn child they hope to meet again. How we appear as "souls" no one alive knows.

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    12. 12:38, I believe she was around 7 weeks pregnant when she lost the baby, so it would have been about the size of a blueberry so yes she would have been able to see the baby.

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    13. @7:18, do Christians believe that people age in heaven?

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    14. @2:39 The Bible reaches that our bodies will be glorified in Heaven and that all things will be new. No sickness, no death, and one could infer from that, no aging. I hope that helps!

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    15. How sad for Lauren :(..so sorry for her loss and for the women here who have lost children. I had an early miscarriage too. I don't know why these things happen but they do.

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    16. I miscarried at 3-4 weeks and I definitely saw a little sack with a definite little head and body. No blood in the bottom of the toilet but this definite little sack. Time stands still for a LONG moment when that happens. I know! Feel for you, Lauren! Yes, Josiah and Lauren’s baby would’ve had a soul already. They will see their “baby” in heaven as a live grown human being as I’m hoping with mine...

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    17. At 3-4 weeks there is no head and body....it would look like acsmall blood clot. The loss is just as orofound, but let's stick to the facts.

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    18. 9:40- I am sorry this happened to you. It does sound like you were further along than 3-4 weeks. You start counting from the first day of your last period. At 4 weeks, you've technically been pregnant for just 2. There wouldn't be anything for you to see at this stage as it's a tiny ball of cells no bigger than a poppy seed. It would be like a heavy period with some clotting.

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  16. Allowing the public to watch one grieve a personal tragedy smacks of attention seeking and looking for a paycheck. I feel like Lauren is being exploited for ratings and money. I am not watching this.

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    1. I totally agree. They are so vulnerable and this is TLC taking advantage of them.

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    2. Lauren certainly was exploited. How horrible for her. Wish her parents had stepped forward and stopped the filming!!!

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    3. Due to both families obsession with having babies, this tragedy has been magnified for Lauren and Josiah. I too feel that they are being exploited for ratings while their judgment is impaired by this loss.

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    4. Lauren is almost 20. She's an adult. It's her decision. Mommy and daddy are not involved with the filming.

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    5. Her parents don't have that authority or influence now. It's all up to she and Si.

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    6. This was laurens choice. Being exploited? She CHOSE to speak about it!!!

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  17. I feel so sad for Lauren. They were so excited about it

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  18. I can't imagine how hard it must be. She and Josiah's are in my prayers!

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  19. Ready, set, brake? Weren't tey baking a cake? Why do they need to put the brakes on?

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  20. lauren also had the choice to say i DONT WANT TO SHARE WITH THE PUBLIC ! her choice and hers alone. agnes berlin ohioo christian

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  21. Everyone is different. She obviously wanted to put it on film or else she wouldnt have. Tlc did not force her to talk

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  22. Praying for this sweet couple

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  23. It was wise for them to go ahead and say what happened, otherwise media would have profited from there loss, people would have realized at some point there was no baby and the media would be swarming with speculation and stories. Rather her get it over with on their own terms. I belive it was wise.

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    1. If that logic is correct, then they should have gone ahead and explained about other things that happened, before the media got hold of them, too.

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  24. Hey U 2 don't give UP HOPE, OK, I mean it, I had lots to get over too, and U will!!!! U 2 will grow stronger, and U 2 I give U my love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  25. If someone is "suffering in silence" it is by their own free will. They could just as easily choose differently, and speak up to end the silence and suffering. It's the person's own choice. If they choose to be silent and suffer, the sufferimg is on them by their own hand.

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    1. Um, no. Don't you blame the woman on that. Not everyone has a personality that feels comfortable talking to others about deeply personal things. Some people honestly do not have people in their life who are compassionate enough that they would want to share their hearts with them. Guys are not always the best at listening, and her partner or husband may be the type who tells her she just needs to get over it. I sure wouldn't feel comfortable sharing with someone who comes across the way that you do.

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