It’s April Fools Day, and that means celebrities have begun their annual Instagram pranks and while the day can sometimes provide an innocent cheeky chuckle there is one April Fools Prank that will never (NEVER) be funny – the fake pregnancy announcement.
This morning Justin Bieber took to his Instagram to post an ultrasound to his 107 million followers, at the time of writing this Justin’s post has racked up more than 2.5 million likes and countless comments.
Following that cryptic picture, Justin posted another shot of wife Hailey surrounded by doctors and affectionately holding her stomach. This time he captioned, “If U thought it was April fools.” That picture racked up 2.7 million likes.
Minutes later Justin posted another ultrasound with a dog in the middle, writing “Wait omg is that a,,, APRIL FOOLS.”
What has become a popular joke for some on social media may seem hilarious, but it is no joke for those who suffer from infertility or have experienced the loss of a child. When you post, “I’m pregnant!” on your social media account, and then haha, surprise, you’re not, it can trigger an emotional rollercoaster.
Fertility can be a painfully private subject for some, and odds are that most people dealing with infertility or experiencing early miscarriage keep it a secret – meaning you won’t even know who you’re affecting.
282 women a day in Australia experience early pregnancy loss before 20 weeks gestation — that’s 103,000 couples a year — with one in four women under 35 experiencing a miscarriage. By age 35, this increases to one in three, while half of all pregnant women over 40 will lose their baby to miscarriage.
Managing director of My Midwives, Liz Wilkes, said: “Women can be quite fragile around the issue of pregnancy and something like a joke pregnancy announcement can end up being a painful reminder of something they are struggling with. Women who are experiencing fertility issues, have had a miscarriage or have had to terminate a pregnancy may have had to keep this to themselves will be feeling emotional. To see something like [a joke announcement] on Instagram of Facebook is really disrespectful.”
In 2017, a woman’s Facebook post went viral after she shared a photo of herself crying after a miscarriage.
Kayla Lee Welsh wrote, “This is why your April Fool’s joke isn’t funny. This is why it’s not funny to lie and joke about being pregnant. This is what it looks like to have a miscarriage. A week ago today I started spotting. I convinced myself it was normal because I did it with Keegan. This time it wasn’t. I avoid laying down to go to sleep because as soon as I hit the bed I’m alone with all of my thoughts. My brain has finally stopped distracting itself from the one thing breaking my heart.
“And all I can do is cry. My eyes are so swollen and dark it looks like more than just my heart is broken. Crying so hard that you go numb and feel nothing anymore.”
Pregnancy is no joke.
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