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‘Counting On’ Recap: Pregnant Jessa Duggar Tries to Predict Baby’s Gender, Has Been Suffering Morning Sickness

Second time’s a charm! On the Monday, January 23, episode of Counting On, Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald were just starting to process how their lives would change when she gave birth to their second child in a matter of months. In preparation, they headed to Jill and Derick‘s house to hear their unborn child’s heartbeat. “Maybe we’ll hear two heartbeats,” Jessa said. “You never know!” (Though she was 18 weeks along, she had not had an ultrasound yet.)

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrity Pregnancy Confessions

Israel and Spurgeon got busy playing, while Jill — a licensed midwife — whipped out her fetal Doppler so they could hear the heartbeat. After a few minutes, Jill located the baby’s heartbeat and made a guess that based on the speed of the heart, it was a girl. Despite this, Jessa and Ben were firmly convinced it was a boy. As for whether it was a single child or twins, the jury was still out. Jill had detected a heartbeat at two different rates during the Doppler use, but said, “It could be the same baby with variability in the heartbeat, or it could be two babies.” Jessa reminded the cameras that twins ran in the family and reiterated that since they hadn’t had an ultrasound, they just didn’t know for sure yet.

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrity Babies 2016

Jessa Talks Pregnancy Woes

One thing Jessa did know for sure, however, was that this pregnancy was different than her first. “I’ve had way more food aversions,” she told the cameras. Among the things Jessa couldn’t stand to be around were coffee, chicken and popcorn. “We couldn’t even have them in the house,” she reported. In addition to her issues with food, and Ben being denied his movie snacks, Jessa said she had been having pretty bad morning sickness.

Related: PHOTOS: Just Like Us: Celebrity Moms

She found the Doppler to be very “encouraging” as a result. “It’s like, ‘OK, there is a kid inside there. I’m not just sick. It’s real. There’s a baby there,'” she laughed. Meanwhile, some of her siblings suggested names for Jessa and Ben’s unborn child. Joy was all about Maximus (guess she was gunning for a boy), while Josiah and Jason suggested Eugene or Eunice. John David passed on the exercise because he said they would never use a name he suggested. Fair enough.

Jessa, Jana, Joy-Anna and Jill

Jinger Plans Her Wedding Food

If there’s one thing we know about the Duggars, it’s that they love pickles — so perhaps it should come as no surprise that a “relish bar” (which is a fancy word for trays of pickles) would be a featured dish at Jinger’s wedding. Jinger and Joy went to taste test some of the food that would be served to the expected 1,200 guests. Yes. 1,200.

Instead of doing a sit-down dinner, Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo were opting for cheese, crackers, meatballs, coffee and the aforementioned relish bar. Jinger loved the smoked gouda cheese, but wasn’t so hot on the Limburger, which she thought smelled “like a dead fish.” Still, it seemed that she planned to include it in the offerings, for those guests who liked cheese that smells like dead fish.

The cuisine set, she and Joy then headed to the venue where the wedding planner convinced Jinger to play a joke on Jeremy by FaceTiming him to say that she was going to sing to him while they lit their unity candle. Jeremy paused awkwardly when she suggested this, and everyone thought it was the funniest joke ever.

Ben Performs at Flame’s Concert

Ben and Jessa have become friendly with a Christian hip-hop artist named Flame and his wife. At one point, Ben even got into the studio with Flame to try his hand at rapping. “I’m probably not going to have a career in music,” Ben admitted. “At least, not rapping.” (Hey, we’re glad he knew this might not be his hidden talent.)

Ben and Jessa decided to go see Flame perform live and brought Spurgeon along as well. “Personally, I think Ben is pretty good at spittin’ some bars,” Jessa reported, sounding like a true hip-hop aficionado. (Ha!) They hung out backstage, but ultimately Ben got talked into going on stage in front of the crowd with a water gun. (Apparently, dousing the front rows with water was a signature of Flame’s concerts.)

Ben was nervous, but Jessa had his back. “Don’t fall off the stage,” she advised. “Don’t trip over any of the cables. Go for it.” Spurgeon slept through most of it, thanks to a pair of noise-canceling headphones.

Tell Us: What do you think of Jinger’s wedding pickle bar?

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