Facebook co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced Friday, that his wife, Priscilla Chan, is pregnant and expecting the couple’s first child.
Naturally, the 31-year-old tech wiz announced the news on his personal Facebook page.
“Priscilla and I have some exciting news,” he wrote to his 33.2 million-plus followers. “We’re expecting a baby girl! This will be a new chapter in our lives. We’ve already been so fortunate for the opportunity to touch people’s lives around the world — Cilla [nickname for Priscilla] as a doctor and educator, and me through this community and philanthropy. Now we’ll focus on making the world a better place for our child and the next generation.”
Accompanying his announcement was a photo of his pregnant wife cradling her baby bump. Rounding out the cute snapshot was the couple’s beautiful Hungarian sheepdog, Beast.
In his announcement, Zuckerberg also shared some deeply personal news about the journey to his wife’s pregnancy.
“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,” he shared.
“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.”
He explained how social media helped him and his wife through the miscarriages. “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,” Zuckerberg wrote. “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.”
The Silicon Valley magnate concluded on a bright, optimistic note. “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,” he wrote.
“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 and Chan, 30, married in 2012.
