Will Abbie Duggar Break Tradition And Return To Work After Having Her Baby?

The Duggars have made no secret of the fact that they lead their lives in strict accordance with their Independent Baptist faith. This means that the children can't date (they "court," and only when the time is right), they don't court without a chaperone, they don't use any form of birth control, and they don't wear clothes that might lead the opposite sex astray — though they seem to slip with this last rule from time to time (via Cheat Sheet). 

But Cheat Sheet also says the same rules didn't seem to apply to John David Duggar and Abbie Grace Burnett when they were courting. "At the beginning of our relationship, John and I sat down and kind of made a list of guidelines for ourselves to keep in relation to how much we touch," Abbie says. And their ages (John David is 29, Abbie is 26) could have been a reason: "We felt it was appropriate for where we are in this stage of life," John David says. "We all get to make a decision on what our standards are. We chose to be able to have some contact versus no contact."

Given that John David and Abbie are already known for rewriting a few rules here and there, can we expect to see them do the same when Abbie is ready to go back to work?

The Duggars' conservative Christian faith stresses the importance of the patriarchy and as such, the Duggar women are encouraged to take on the role as housewives who view their husbands as authority figures. Michelle Duggar herself is a stay-at-home mom and homeschooled all her 19 children. In Touch Weekly says Michelle was even spotted at a conference handing out flyers with a rule about how women should obey their husbands. In a blog post from 2015, Michelle also shared what she called her "Marriage Advice for Newlyweds," writing "... you are the only one that can meet that special need that he has in his life for intimacy. You're the only one... So when you are exhausted at the end of the day... don't forget about him because you and he are the only ones who can have that time together."

Being the perfect housewife and fulfilling all your husband's needs probably doesn't leave a lot of time for work outside the house. So while Jill, the second-oldest daughter, is a certified midwife, and Jinger dabbles in photography, it appears the girls don't have full-time jobs (both Jessa and Joy-Anna are a stay-at-home moms). And because all of the girls are homeschooled, they may have a challenging time entering the job market anyway (via Romper). 

Cheat Sheet says the practice of becoming a stay-at-home mom extends to the other Duggar daughters-in-law Anna, Kendra, and Lauren. But just because they don't hold full time jobs, that doesn't mean the Duggar girls are money-averse. They most likely earn decent paychecks for appearing on Counting On, and they are also considered social influencers because they are part of a famous family.

But things may be different with Abbie, who is a certified nurse.

John David Duggar and Abbie Grace Burnett had the typical lighting-speed courtship but both were well into their 20s when they married, and Abbie was already on the career path. Though she did quit her nursing job to plan her wedding (according to Distractify), she seems reluctant to walk away from her career forever, as she recently became licensed to practice in her new home state. In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Duggar explained, "I've got my license transferred over to Arkansas so that I have availability if I want it. I know I'm planning to keep up my license by doing continuing education hours. We've talked about looking at some options of getting a job. We just haven't yet... So we'll just keep it as an option and see what happens."

Abbie Duggar is currently pregnant with her first child (she's having a girl), but she's not having an easy time. John David Duggar told Us Weekly recently that his wife was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum and was hospitalized a few times because she could neither eat nor drink. "She was actually on IVs and had IVs at home. So that was a pretty scary time," he said. 

With Abbie's struggles, it's easy to see why the couple is waiting to decide if and when she can put her nursing career back on track. "I think [we'll] wait until the baby's born before we make any big decisions for us. ... Then maybe several months down the road after the baby's here, we can look at ... different places for options for her to even work part-time or something like that," Duggar explained. If Abbie does return to work after having her baby, she'll be a trailblazer for all the Duggar ladies behind her.