Jinger Duggar is proof that pregnancy can be surprising, no matter how many siblings you have

Despite growing up with 18 siblings and being an aunt a handful of times over, first-time expectant mama Jinger Duggar says she has still been taken aback by several things during her own pregnancy.

“I do think probably what surprised me most is just being so tired all the time,” Duggar tells Us Weekly. “I was never a napper, like having to take a nap, and now it’s like, ‘Ooh! I think I want to nap every day!'”

That’s a common early symptom of pregnancy due to rising hormone levels that can trigger sleepiness. Rather than fight it, Duggar says she eventually learned to embrace the excuse to squeeze in some more shut-eye thanks to some encouragement from her sisters.

“They’ve said, ‘Just take a nap, don’t feel bad if you need to lay down in the middle of the day,'” she says. “Especially when I was in all the morning sickness, I talked to them a lot about what they did, how they got through their morning sickness and I think that was some of the best advice—just resting, taking it easy.”

For Duggar, who married former professional soccer player Jeremy Vuolo in November 2016, the support of her husband is essential now that they are living a state away from her family.

“He got me take out food a lot because I did not want to step foot in the kitchen,” Duggar says of another one of her top struggles from the first trimester. “It made me nauseous, so he did that for that season and that was very, very good.”

Now 24 weeks along, Duggar says she’s past morning sickness and back to feeling really good. “It’s kind of—as someone labeled it—the honeymoon phase of the pregnancy because you’re not super big, but you’re enjoying the pregnancy.”

The only issue now? Sister Joy-Anna Duggar’s recent delivery of a 10 lb. baby is (understandably) making Duggar anxious about her own due date in July.

“I thought, ‘Oh my. What if I have a 10-pounder?’ That’s probably the only thing that makes me nervous, is just thinking of the size of the baby and going through labor,” Duggar says, adding she’s trying to focus instead on the positives—especially because the couple opted not the learn the baby’s sex. “I know that when that baby comes I’m going to be super excited to see it.”

That’s one fact we can all be sure of: No matter how many babies you’ve seen come into the world, it’s always amazing to meet your own!

You might also like:

• 8 surprising things first-time moms should know about giving birth
• It’s science: Pregnancy brain prepares you to bond with your baby
• 4 questions to help prepare you + your partner for a peaceful birth