The April Fools’ Day Prank to Avoid Doing this Year

Your “Surprise, I’m Pregnant!” April Fools’ Day Prank Broke My Heart!

I can take a joke. In fact, I like to consider myself someone who likes to joke with the best of them, but if your BIG prank for April Fools’ Day this year is announcing a fake pregnancy, I won’t be laughing. It’s also safe to say that thousands of additional people experiencing infertility will also not be laughing, and here is why.

Everyone these days post their pregnancy announcements on social media, so I understand how easy this prank might seem, but for some of us..the ones who are coping with infertility, that prank tugs on our heart strings. It reminds us of something we want so badly, but are unable to have. Sure, some of those people may eventually have children, but it comes after thousands of dollars, treatments, false hopes, tears, heartache and ONE hell of a fight!  Though this seemingly harmless prank may catch the attention from some and even fool them, it’ll also break those who want so badly to announce such exciting news.

For someone who struggled to conceive for nearly two years, I started turning into that person that secretly despised all those who announced their pregnancies. I envied them.I loathed them. I avoided them. I wanted so badly to experience the joy they had in that moment.

NOTE: My husband and I were finally able to conceive (without fertility treatment) to the surprise of our fertility doctors. Our son is now two, and as we begin the process of growing our family once more, we understand that with the prognosis we have received and our circumstances, IVF will really be our only feasible option if we want to grow our family.

I used to not talk about the infertility battles my husband and I had went through and are currently, again, going through. But now that I have, we are stronger and more educated on infertility.  I share our story because I’ve been able to help offer support to others who find themselves in similar circumstances.

With that said, every year on April 1st at least a handful of my friends will announce that they’re pregnant. Now, keep in mind before my husband and I conceived, I was more envious than suspicious when those announcements showed up on my social media feed. Because of what we have gone through and continue to go through, I suspect everyone who announces their pregnancy on April 1st as being anything but true.

I was that person who would close herself in her bedroom and sob, praying that God would help my husband and I conceive. I prayed for a miracle. I was jealous. I had self-pity and self-loathing over the fact that we were unable to grow our family.  I simply wanted what I couldn’t have.

Today, when I see such posts about pregnancy announcements on April Fools Day, I am outraged. I cannot relate to those insensitive people posting such lies. I know that some of those pranksters don’t intentionally try to hurt others, but I can only hope that they consider the possibility. I can only hope that they understand how many couples out there pray every night for a miracle. I can only hope that they realize that the hurt they will cause will affect thousands of people struggling with infertility.

That said, I’d like to remind all of those trying to come up with a clever and funny April Fools’ Day prank to avoid the (fake) pregnancy announcement. Those that are struggling to conceive don’t need to be reminded more of what they don’t have, so don’t rub your phantom April Fools’ Day baby in their faces.