Jill Duggar revealed she has suffered a miscarriage, turning her "happiness into heartbreak."
The 19 Kids and Counting alum posted a YouTube video on Oct. 11 that shared a montage of videos from her brief pregnancy, including the test when she found out she and husband Derick Dillard were expecting their third child.
"We recently found out we were expecting our third baby. We were thrilled!" Jill wrote on Instagram. "However, a few days later we started miscarrying."
In a blog post, Jill reflected on her delight after finding out they were growing their family to five. "It was fun to see so much joy in the boys' faces as we shared the news with them," she explained of sons Israel, 6, and Samuel, 4. "They were full of questions and so excited as we talked about the pregnancy and how they would get to be involved along the way and after baby was born."
She said it was too early to know the baby's sex, but they had picked a name that "encompasses our baby's significance and the life we will always remember: River Bliss Dillard." Jill added, "We love & miss you River Bliss!"
Jill said they picked the name River to represent tranquility, writing, "Here in Arkansas, rivers are often a serene, beautiful escape in nature." They chose Bliss for a middle name "because our baby is living in perfect bliss with the Lord and was such a gift that brought immense joy and happiness to us even though only with us here on earth for a short time."
She paid tribute to River's life through the montage video, set to the song "I Will Carry You" by Selah. It included an unsmiling selfie of the reality star, captioned with the quote, "I Carried You For Every Second Of Your Life & I Will Love You Every Second Of Mine."
The couple left their spinoff Counting On in 2017, and spoke out following its cancellation in June 2021.
They said in a statement, "During our years on the show, we had many great experiences with the network, and several of the crew members have even become like family to us! However, we also faced many pressures and some unexpected challenges which forced us to step away from the show in an effort to gain more control over our own lives and to do what was best for our family."
Jill and Derick have also distanced themselves from the Duggar family over a lack of autonomy, saying, "Our control to choose what jobs we were allowed to accept and even where we were allowed to live was taken away from us."