Huge News For The Zuck And Priscilla Chan

Big news for Facebook, and this time it's not about security settings or some cutting-edge acquisition. Rather, it's all about the company's First Family getting a new member incoming: Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg are expecting their first child, according to a post by Zuckerberg that went up on Friday morning. Here's what Zuckerberg and Chan wanted to share with the world — it's a candid and earnest message, reflecting on the couple's excitement, and the pain from a trio of past miscarriages.

Priscilla and I have some exciting news: 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 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.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. 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!

So there you have it! A new member of the clan is on the way. Zuckerberg and Chan deserve credit for being willing to open up about a painful topic like miscarriage in the context of their pregnancy announcement — even as Zuckerberg termed it "a lonely experience" at first, it's true that miscarriage is a sadly common reality for countless would-be parents.

According to the Mayo Clinic, about 10 to 20 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage, although that figure is still on the conservative side since many women miscarry before even realizing they're pregnant. In other words, it's only a lonely experience by virtue of the fact that it's not often a topic of public discussion, so it's great that Zuckerberg and Chan were willing to open up.