Jill Duggar has revealed why she and her new husband, Derick Dillard, 25, made the shocking decision to announce her pregnancy at just eight weeks.

“Understanding that the majority of miscarriages happen within the first trimester, and believing that every life is precious no matter how young, we decided to share our joyful news as soon as we could,” Duggar, 23, told Page Six on Tuesday.

But while many were skeptical of the couple going public with the news, Christine Proudfit, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and NYU Langone Medical Center, called it a “personal decision.”

“The risk of miscarriage significantly goes down after 12 weeks. Down Syndrome testing is at 12 weeks as well, so many people prefer to wait to get those results. Miscarriage is the biggest thing we worry about,” Proudfit told Page Six on Wednesday.

Proudfit explained that during the first trimester, 15 to 20 percent of clinically recognized pregnancies — meaning that the pregnancy has been visualized on an ultrasound — are miscarried. However, she said once you’ve seen a heartbeat (at around 6 to 7 weeks), the risk is less than 5 percent.

We knew that we weren’t going to prevent having children, so when we found out we were expecting within our first month of marriage, we were thrilled!

 - Jill Duggar

“Usually I say after the first trimester [is a good time to share pregnancy news], after the Down Syndrome testing, but I think it’s really personal,” Proudfit said. “It’s really a choice. If they had a miscarriage, some people would want their family members to know, some people want to keep it private just in case.”

The “19 Kids and Counting” stars began their relationship via Skype a year ago, tied the knot just eight months later on June 21, then announced the baby news just 61 days after their wedding.

“We prayed a lot, prepared and really didn’t see any reason to have a long courtship and engagement,” Duggar revealed. “Once we knew we wanted to get married, we didn’t want to put off the wedding for a long time and provide a stumbling block for ourselves. We purposed to save ourselves physically for each other within marriage (even our first kiss for our wedding day!), so we had a short engagement period. We knew that we weren’t going to prevent having children, so when we found out we were expecting within our first month of marriage, we were thrilled!”

When it comes to advice about remaining pure until marriage, Duggar added that long engagements aren’t the best idea.

“You may not wanna push the wedding date out too far, as those natural God-given desires with too much time between engagement and marriage can make it harder to remain pure. If you are financially ready, and things are in place (which should be at the time the question is popped), we believe an engagement should only be long enough to plan a wedding!”

The baby, due in March, will be the couple’s first child together, but definitely not the last.

“I have loved having lots of brothers and sisters and although Derick comes from a family with just one brother, both of us would love to have as many children as God will give us,” Duggar dishes. “We are also open to the possibility of adoption.”

Even though their wedding will be on the air, Duggar says they haven’t decided whether they will be showing the baby’s birth on “19 Kids and Counting” (airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on TLC).