Former Counting On star Jinger Duggar was raised in a family that prefers unmedicated home births over hospital births. However, the sixth-born child of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar opted to welcome her first two babies in a medical setting. But recently, Jinger Duggar claimed a hospital gave her “hard drugs” without her knowledge after delivering her first daughter.
Jinger and her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, married in 2016. The couple welcomed their first daughter, Felicity, in July 2018, followed by another daughter, Evangeline, in November 2020. In October 2024, Jinger announced that she and Jeremy were expecting their third child.
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On their podcast, Jinger and Jeremy recalled bringing their daughter Felicity home after she was born.
During the November 20 episode of The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast, the couple reflected on celebrating eight years of marriage. Jinger also recalled the “interesting drive” she and Jeremy took from a hospital in San Antonio, Texas, to their home in Laredo. It was when they brought home their eldest daughter, Felicity.
Jinger shared that the hospital allegedly gave her 'hard drugs' without her knowledge.
“It was pretty wild because they were like, ‘Well, you know, you’ve been doing great after having Felicity. You shouldn’t be in much pain,’ Jinger explained. “But they were like, ‘We’re going to give you one dose of medicine just to get you home.’”
Although Jinger thought they would give something like ibuprofen, based on how her body reacted, that wasn’t the case.
“They gave me some serious, like hard — I was going to say hard drug,” she said. “It was bad.”
While riding home, she wasn't feeling well.
“They gave me something. And I don’t remember what it was, but it made me so nauseous. I felt like I was going to vomit,” Jinger continued on the podcast. “The second I got in the car, I think they gave it to me 10 minutes before because it’s supposed to help you ride in the car for two and a half hours. And I sat in the car with the AC blasting, and I was just so sick. And I felt like shaky. I felt horrible.”
She added, “To this day, I don’t know what that medicine they gave me, but I will never let them do that again.”
Thankfully, Jinger’s experience after giving birth to Evangeline went much more smoothly, as she requested to be given only ibuprofen for pain after delivery.
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Jinger is still very much on board with getting an epidural during labor and delivery.
Despite her avoiding taking pain medicine unless she feels she really needs it, Jinger said she is completely OK with using an epidural during labor and delivery.
“I’m all about natural stuff in general at home but I’m not super crunchy to where I’m going to be like, ‘Don’t give me an epidural,'” she said on her and Jeremy’s podcast. “I will do the epidural. Like I said, my birth plan is going to the hospital, have the kid, hope they’re good, hope I’m good. Get the baby out. So if I’m in severe pain, you better be giving me some medicine.”
For baby No. 3, her birth plan will likely be the same.
On their podcast, Jeremy and Jinger also discussed that they weren’t comfortable with the idea of home birth because of Jinger’s family members’ history of having to be taken to the hospital for complications. That means they’ll likely still head to the hospital for the arrival of their third child. As Jinger told People, their baby’s due date is in March 2025.
