Entertainment

Here's Why Austin Forsyth Thinks Joy-Anna's Having A Girl

by Cameron Norsworthy

Any reality TV family will tell you that keeping show spoilers out of the media isn't easy, especially when new babies are on the way. Just ask the Duggars (or, you know, the Jenner-Kardashians). 19-year-old Joy-Anna Duggar married 22-year-old Austin Forsyth this May, and now the two are pregnant with their first child. They've posted about it a bit on social media, but fans will probably have to wait until a new season of Counting On airs before getting many of the other details. Given that Joy-Anna is believed to be due in early March, one big question remains: is Joy-Anna Duggar having a boy or a girl? Fans — and Joy-Anna herself — have some theories. Romper reached out to Joy-Anna and Austin for comment but has not heard back at this time.

Austin and Joy-Anna have different predictions, as shown in their pregnancy announcement released by TLC. "I think we're gonna be having a little girl," Austin postulated based on the fact that "there's kinda been a trend of having boys in the family, and I think we're gonna break it." Joy-Anna, on the other hand, has decided otherwise. "I think it's a boy," she countered.

"I hope our child is pretty much just like their mother," Austin wished, which he interprets as "selfless and always serving and loving people." For Joy-Anna, the growth of the child is the most exciting part. "I'm really looking forward to seeing what the baby looks like, especially in the first two years," she told TLC. "They grow a ton ... from, you know, just being a baby to being able to sit up and to crawl and to walk." Joy-Anna's definitely been around her fair share of babies, coming from a household of 19-plus, so she knows what she's getting into as far as child development is concerned.

Boy-or-girl speculations aside, fans have also been trying to figure out how far along Joy-Anna is, basically under the entirely fan-based suspicion that she and Austin didn't wait until marriage to get pregnant, totally violating their families' strict set of religious rules. (There is no proof to this, of course.) Fans have been judging photos of Joy-Anna's baby bump, and some are theorizing that Joy-Anna may be further along than what some may originally have thought. "I got to feel it kick for the first time a few days ago," she wrote in an Instagram caption. "It's already about the size of a bell pepper and weighs around half a pound," she shared. Of course, when she became pregnant is is one’s business other than the expecting couple. Any theorizing is strictly that, and while we are at it, don’t make assumptions based on a woman’s body. Not cool.

But that wasn't the most controversial thing that Joy-Anna put on her joint-Instagram account with Austin that day. In addition to the baby bump mirror selfie, Joy-Anna also took the liberty of posting a stock photo of baby feet with text overlay reading: "Life offers no guarantees but abortion offers no chances." The next photo? A picture of Austin holding a sign on the side of the road that reads "ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN." Suffice it to say, Joy-Anna's politicizing her pregnancy and making a strong, pro-life statement with it. It's not too surprising, given her religious background, but it's definitely caused debate among commenters.

Of Joy-Anna's 18 siblings, ten are boys. As far as grandchildren go, seven out of nine are boys, which has informed Austin's perspective that they have to have a girl to break the streak. Seeing as Austin and Joy-Anna's wedding special just aired, it's going to be awhile before baby Forsyth news graces the screen of Counting On. Until then, it looks like TLC's intermittent YouTube updates and Joy-Anna's Instagram posts will have to do.