As soon as Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's offspring entered adulthood and began starting families of their own, fans started speculating about which one of them would carry on the family tradition by popping out way, way too many kids.

Josh got off to an early lead, but half a dozen sex scandals later, everyone's hoping that he'll stop impregnating his long-suffering wife.

From there, Jill became the favorite, but these days she's involved in an open rebellion against Jim Bob.

That means that even if she were interested in following in the patriarch's footsteps (she's not), she would likely lack the financial resources to do so, as she's cut off from the family media empire.

These days, procreation aficionados are pinning their hopes on Jessa, and it seems they have every reason to be optimistic.

Jessa welcomed her third child, a daughter named Ivy, last summer.

And fans are already picking up on clues that Jessa and husband Ben Seewald are expecting their fourth.

At first, it was rumored that Jessa and Ben were planning to adopt their next child.

Now, however, fans are convinced that the couple will be welcoming Ivy's younger sibling the old-fashioned way.

Recently, the family got together -- and, we hope, observed proper social distancing protocol -- in order to celebrate Ivy's first birthday.

Jessa posted a video of the event this week, and a comment from Jim Bob got Duggar obsessives talking.

Ivy was given a "smash cake" that she would be free to destroy as only a 1-year-old can.

But before the destruction began, Jim Bob quipped, "This will tell us if it's a boy or a girl."

This led many fans to the conclusion that Ivy's birthday doubled as a gender reveal party for Jessa's fourth kid.

But when Ivy smashed the cake apart, it was neither pink nor blue inside.

Instead it was just ... ya know, cake-colored.

From there, viewers concluded that Jim Bob must have been joking.

But that's a pretty weird joke to make if no one in the room is pregnant.

In all likelihood, it was just an offhand comment that didn't mean much of anything, and fans are simply eager for some new Duggar baby news.

We can't say we blame them.

After all, they're still coming off the high of the great Duggar baby boom that took up most of 2019.

And like the rest of us, they're enduring the dumpster fire that is 2020, so we're sure they welcome any distraction they can get.

But we guess they'll just have to be content with the knowledge that Jessa will eventually have another kid ... and this horrendous year will eventually come to an end.