'So much has changed for her': Jessa Duggar 'feels baby's birth is bittersweet' following end of 19 Kids... after sister Jill got reality special for birth of son Israel
The cancellation of 19 Kids And Counting has cast a long shadow over what was set to be one of the happiest times in Jessa Duggar's life.
When the third daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar announced she was expecting her first child, she looked forward to having her pregnancy and childbirth documented on camera.
'It's now bittersweet,' a family insider tells People Wednesday. 'It's not lost on her that Jill giving birth to Israel got an entire TLC special devoted to it.'
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Bittersweet: Jessa Duggar, pictured with husband Ben Seewald, is due to give birth to her first child in 11 weeks. It's claimed she's struggling to come to terms with the fact that her delivery won't be televised
Jessa, 22, who is married to Ben Seewald, is due to give birth on November 1, her first wedding anniversary.
Until her brother Josh's molestation scandal broke in May, she had anticipated being the center of attention on the family's reality series.
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'She was in such a joyous moment in her life,' People's unnamed source reveals. 'Instead the show isn't there to chronicle this happy time.
'So much has changed for Jessa compared to what Jill experienced and it can't be changed back. And that's sad for her.'
Center of attention: When she and Ben announced the news in April that they were expecting a baby, Jessa, 22, anticipated that her pregnancy would be documented on the TLC reality show 19 Kids And Counting
Televised arrival: When Jill Duggar, 24, and husband Derick Dillard welcomed son Israel on April 6, TV cameras filmed the entire labor and delivery and the footage was aired in a TLC special
Jessa has been trying to maintain a public profile via social media and has posted regular updates of her burgeoning baby bump.
She and Ben even devised a poll and asked people to vote on whether they think the couple will welcome a boy, a girl or even twins.
They've also set up their own website www.theseewaldfamily.com where they post videos and share devotional messages.
Public pregnancy: Jessa has regularly posted updates on her growing baby bump via her Instagram account and she and Ben have set up their own website
While Jessa seems anxious to remain in the spotlight, her older sister Jill, 24, has literally moved to distance herself from her family and the media attention surrounding them.
In early July, she, husband Derick Dillard and four-month-old son Israel travelled to El Salvador, where the couple are serving as missionaries in an impoverished rural area.
'Yes, it was "God's calling", but it was God's calling at exactly the moment it made the most sense for her and Derick and the baby to get away from the spotlight,' a source tells People.
Distancing themselves: The Dillards became missionaries in El Salvador in early July. They're seen here returning to the US to attend a wedding in Tennessee last weekend
They returned briefly to the US to attend the wedding in Tennessee of Jill's friend Michaella Bates, from Bringing Up Bates, to Brandon Keilen,
After some time at language school, the Dillards will return to their mission site in Central America.
Josh Duggar, 27, confessed on May 21 that he had molested five minors between 2002-2003.
It later emerged that his sisters Jill and Jessa were among the victims.
However, in a Fox News interview in June, both sisters defended their brother and said they had forgiven him.
On July 16, TLC announced that it was permanently cancelling 19 Kids And Counting in the wake of the molestation scandal and the public outcry that followed.
Defensive: Both Jessa and Jill appeared on Fox News to defend their older brother Josh, 27, after he admitted in May that he had molested them as children when he was a teenager, along with three other minors
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