Duggar Family Welcomes First Grandchild
Exclusive First Photos: Little Mackynzie Renée enters the world with 17 aunts and uncles – and another on the way
By Alicia Dennis
Published on October 9, 2009 08:35 AM
Photo: Courtesy of The Duggars
There's doting – and then there's Duggar doting.
Mackynzie Renée Duggar is in for an avalanche of family attention: She's not only the first grandchild in the reality TV clan, but she already has 17 aunts and uncles, plus one more on the way, since her grandparents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are expecting their 19th child in the spring.
Mackynzie was born at the home of her parents, Joshua and Anna, with a midwife and doula attending the birth. "Josh was excited to participate in the birth as well," says a family friend. "They are both so happy."
VIDEO: Duggars Expecting Their 19th Child!
Josh has been front and center in his wife's first pregnancy – telling her the news that she was pregnant after she was too nervous to look at her own pregnancy test, and reading and singing to his daughter before she was born.
"I ask Anna what she needs," Josh told PEOPLE in July. "I talk to the baby and we involve her in our conversations. When Anna and I are talking to each other, we'll say, 'So, how do you like that, Mackynzie?' "
Although Mackynzie is his first child, Josh knows all about raising babies. He's the oldest child of Jim Bob and MIchelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark., who went on to have twins Jana and John-David, 19; Jill, 18; Jessa, 16; Jinger, 15; Joseph, 14; Josiah, 13; Joy-Anna, 11; twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 10; Jason, 9; James, 8; Justin, 6; Jackson, 5; Johanna, 3; Jennifer, 2 and Jordyn-Grace, 9 months.
The newest Duggar's name came from a combination Josh's cousin's name (Mackynzie) and Anna's middle name (Renée), but the couple hasn't completely committed to "M" being the letter to begin all their children's names. The Duggars famously have chosen "J" names for all their children.
Mackynzie Duggar's birth will be featured on TLC's 18 Kids and Counting special First Grandduggar, airing Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 9 p.m.
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