Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan made a big announcement this week: They’re expecting a baby girl!
However, the couple also took their very public platform to address the struggles they’ve faced along the way to get to that point. Zuckerberg discussed how Chan had experienced three miscarriages, and they both found it to be a lonely experience:
“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.”
About 10-15% of pregnancies end in miscarriage (with more than three million cases every year), and no one is really talking about it on a larger scale. Could this be the turning point? And if so, what could we all do to make miscarriage and the struggles that come with it much more accepted and discussed?
Cover image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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