FACEBOOK FOUNDER AND CEO Mark Zuckerberg has penned a post about his wife’s three miscarriages.
The social networking mogul announced that wife Priscilla Chan is pregnant with a baby girl in a Facebook post this evening, before telling the story of the couple’s previous struggles.
He urged people who suffer a similar tragedy to talk about it with friends, saying that it “gives us hope”.
He added that the baby has already given her first “like”, throwing a thumbs up during an ultrasound.
The post reads:
We want to share one experience to start. We’ve been trying to have a child for a couple of years and have had three miscarriages along the way.You feel so hopeful when you learn you’re going to have a child. You start imagining who they’ll become and dreaming of hopes for their future. You start making plans, and then they’re gone. It’s a lonely experience.
Most people don’t discuss miscarriages because you worry your problems will distance you or reflect upon you — as if you’re defective or did something to cause this. So you struggle on your own.
In today’s open and connected world, discussing these issues doesn’t distance us; it brings us together. It creates understanding and tolerance, and it gives us hope.
When we started talking to our friends, we realised how frequently this happened — that many people we knew had similar issues and that nearly all had healthy children after all.
We hope that sharing our experience will give more people the same hope we felt and will help more people feel comfortable sharing their stories as well.
Our good news is that our pregnancy is now far enough along that the risk of loss is very low and we are very hopeful.
Cilla and our child are both healthy, I’m extremely excited to meet her and our dog Beast has no idea what’s coming. In our ultrasound, she even gave me a thumbs up “like” with her hand, so I’m already convinced she takes after me.
We’re looking forward to welcoming her into the world and sharing more soon when she’s ready to come out and meet everyone.
Zuckerberg married Chan, who is a doctor, in 2012. The couple have been together since 2003.
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