Joy-Anna Duggar pregnant with first child: 'We're so happy'

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Joy-Anna Duggar says she's "so happy" to be pregnant with her first child.

The 19-year-old reality star announced in an interview with People published Wednesday that she's expecting a baby with husband Austin Forsyth.

"We're so happy and thankful to announce that we're expecting a baby!" Duggar told the magazine. "Every child is such a precious gift from God. I'm most looking forward to watching Austin as a dad and raising children together with him."

"I have a lot of good memories of my mom teaching us and the quality time we spent together, and I'm really looking forward to doing that with my own children," she added. "It's such an amazing thing to be a parent and raise children!"

Duggar's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, confirmed their daughter's big news on the Duggar family blog.

"We are so blessed to share that Joy and Austin are expecting!! We know they will be such wonderful parents! We can't wait to meet this little one," the couple wrote.

Duggar and Forsyth married in Arkansas in May after announcing their courtship in March. Duggar told People after the wedding that she and Forsyth were hoping to start a family.

"We love kids and we're excited to have a family," the star told the magazine. "We're just going to see what the Lord does."

"We want as many as the Lord thinks we can handle and we are putting it into his hands," she added.

Duggar, her parents and her 18 siblings came to fame on the TLC series 19 Kids & Counting. The family now stars on Jill & Jessa: Counting On, which will return for a fourth season Sept. 11.