Joy Anna Duggar, 22, has baby girl a year after miscarriage

Joy Anna Duggar has given birth to a healthy baby girl just over a year after miscarrying a daughter at 20 weeks gestation.

The 22-year-old Counting On star announced the news on Instagram today, sharing the first photos of the little girl she shares with husband Austin Forsyth, 26 — but the couple are keeping the name under wraps.

‘To say my heart is full is an understatement,’ Joy wrote on Instagram today. ‘We have been dreaming of this day and are so happy to announce that our baby girl arrived August 21st at 2:12pm weighing 8lbs 5oz and is 19.5” long!’

Photos show Joy Anna shortly after giving birth in a hospital on Friday. The proud mom holds her daughter, who wears a pink cap, to her chest, while Austin leans over her with a surgical mask pulled down under his chin.

In a second image, Joy Anna and Austin are sitting up in bed, with the little girl dressed up in a matching floral headband and swaddle.

‘She has the best personality, is easy going, and loves to be held!’ Joy Anna wrote.

‘She has her nights and days mixed up, but honestly, I love it! Getting to spend that quiet, quality time with her through the night has been SO special!’

Confirmed the announcement to E! News, they added: ‘We are grateful for all the love and prayers that have come our way during this pregnancy.’ 

The happy parents promised more updates — presumably the little girl’s name — will come soon. 

Joy was still bumping along on her due date, August 19, and shared the final photos of her pregnancy on Instagram last week.

‘We are just here impatiently awaiting your arrival,’ she wrote at the time, posing with the couple’s two-year-old son Gideon sitting comfortably on her belly.  

The new baby’s arrival comes almost 14 months after Joy miscarried at 20 weeks in July of 2019. 

‘We only had her for 20 weeks, Life is fragile and precious,’ the couple wrote on Instagram at the time. ‘So thankful the Lord gave her to us for that short time! She will be in our hearts forever!’

‘Although we don’t understand why, God has given us unexplainable peace and comfort during this very difficult time. Yes, it still hurts and we have cried countless tears, but we know that we can trust the Lord.

‘We don’t grieve as those who have no hope because we trust that we will see this little one again,’ they wrote. ‘Please pray for continued healing, not only physically but for our hearts as well.’ 

The young parents named the baby Annabelle, and went on to bury her at his family’s camp in Combs, Arkansas. 

Four months later, they conceived again, but waited until March to announce it to the public.  

‘Yes… it’s true! [Austin] and I are PREGNANT again!’ Joy Anna wrote on Instagram earlier this year, confirming rumors that began to swirl a couple of weeks before. 

‘Ahhh!!! It’s been quite the crazy journey these last few months, but we are so thankful that mom and baby are healthy!’ 

She also posted a YouTube video, in which she caught fans up on her pregnancy journey.

‘I’m shocked. I’m not actually as scared as I thought I was gonna be after miscarrying at 20 weeks. It’s just, I thought I was gonna be so nervous, but I’m really not. I’m excited,’ she said in the video.  

When she told Austin, she did so by wrapping a positive pregnancy test in a gift box.  

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Not long into her pregnancy, she started to experience spotting. She went to the doctor, who told her it might be a nonviable pregnancy. 

After some anxious waiting, though, Joy Anna and Austin learned that that wasn’t the case — and also found out they were having a daughter.

‘We’re having a girl! I could not believe it. I just started crying,’ Joy Anna said. ‘We’re super excited, nervous, and thankful, all at the same time.’

‘It’s just a huge load lifted off our shoulders, knowing that the tests came back good, came back normally,’ Austin added.

Finally, they finished off the video with the gender reveal they had for family, watching on from their yard as older brother John David dropped a bucked of pink confetti from a helicopter.

She and Austin continued to offer updates on YouTube, taking fans along for the gender reveal and doctor’s appointments. 

In July, she celebrated her impending arrival with a baby shower, with her mom, sisters, sisters-in-law, and best friend Carlin Bates coming together for a not-so-socially-distanced party.  

Photos from social media show a room decorated with white, yellow, and rose gold balloons, which her family put up ahead of time.

The party appears to have included a rather large group given that the country is in the middle of a pandemic, with everyone gathered together indoors without masks or social distancing. 

Pictured at the festivities is Joy Anna’s mom Michelle, as well as her sisters Jana, Jessa, Johanna, Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie.

Her big sister Jill was also notably in attendance. Jill has been absent from quite a few family gatherings, which her husband Derick Dillard has claimed on numerous occasions is because dad Jim Bob restricts her access to the rest of the family. 

Sisters-in-law Lauren and Anna showed up, too, with Anna bringing along daughters Meredith, Mackynzie, and baby Maryella, and Lauren toting her baby, Bella.

Also there was Joy Anna’s longtime friend and fellow reality star Carlin Bates, who had her own first child earlier this year. 

Other Instagram pictures show five other guests, bringing the total to at least 21 people. 

While the images don’t show any masks or other precautions taken, the group did seem to play some games, including one in which Joy Anna and Carlin competed to change a diaper while holding a phone between their faces and shoulders.

Joy Anna, who is due August 19, also opened gifts, including diapers and dresses.  

Pictures don’t show any food, and it doesn’t appear that Joy Anna had any sort of cake. Previously, after her sister-in-law Lauren miscarried at just five weeks, she had an entirely separate cake for ‘Big Brother Asa’ at her baby shower during her next pregnancy.