Pregnancy Announcements

Someone just announced their pregnancy. And your whole body went still. Maybe it was a text. Maybe a sonogram on social media. Maybe a coworker glowing across the room. Maybe your sister, your best friend, the person you swore would be pregnant alongside you. And in one breath, the air left the room. 🤍 If you smiled and then cried in the bathroom, you are not bitter. 🤍 If you scrolled past and felt your chest cave in, you are not broken. 🤍 If you love them and still can't congratulate them yet, you are not a bad person. Two things can be true: you can be happy for someone else and devastated for yourself. Grief does not erase love. Love does not erase grief. 🕊️ It is okay to mute the post. 🕊️ It is okay to step away from the group chat. 🕊️ It is okay to send a card later, when your heart can hold it. 🕊️ It is okay to grieve in private while the world celebrates someone else. What you are feeling is not jealousy. It is the echo of your own baby. It is the empty arms speaking up. It is the future you were promised, missing from the room. Announcements are landmines for loss mothers. The world doesn't see them coming. You do. And every time, you have to brace. You are allowed to: — close the app — leave the room — say nothing at all — take a long breath before you respond — love them later, when the wave passes — send a quiet message instead of showing up You do not owe anyone a performance of joy you cannot feel right now. Your honesty with yourself is more sacred than anyone's expectation of you. And if guilt is here too, guilt for hurting when someone else is happy, let it pass through. You are not taking anything from them by feeling your own pain. Their joy is whole. Your grief is whole. Both can exist. Somewhere right now, another loss mother just saw an announcement too. And another. And another. We brace together, even when we cannot see each other. Your baby is still remembered. Your love still counts. And the ache you feel right now is proof of how deeply you loved. Be gentle with yourself today. There is nothing to prove. There is nothing to fix. There is only love, and love is enough.