Mark Zuckerberg Uses Baby Announcement to Spread Awareness About Miscarriages

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, doctor Priscilla Chan, announced their pregnancy on Friday, they used the exciting news as a way to begin a dialogue about an oddly taboo subject. "Priscilla and I have some exciting news: we're expecting a baby girl!" said Zuckerberg in a Facebook post (of course). Breaking the mold of other pregnancy announcements, though, the entrepreneur didn't stop after sharing the good news.

"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 realized 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."

By using this amazing moment in their lives as a platform for discussing miscarriage, Zuckerberg and Chan will hopefully inspire others to open up about their own experiences with pregnancy and loss. Though one in four women will experience a miscarriage while trying for a baby, it's a subject that goes widely unspoken among parents.

We appreciate the couple's transparency and wish them a lifetime of happiness with their baby girl! To read Mark's full announcement, check out his Facebook post. Congratulations to the blossoming Zuckerberg family!