Years ago, I would not have thought twice about someone posting on Facebook that they were pregnant and then saying, just kidding or April Fools. It wasn't a big deal to me then. After two pregnancies that ended in miscarriage, it changed my mind. There are some things that if you are going to post on social media that you are pregnant when you really aren't, you need to be mindful of.
Social media is a tricky beast. It has algorithms that only lets people see certain things. Unless you go on to a certain page you will not see all of what a person is posting. Now imagine I have posted on Facebook that I am pregnant. A bunch of people are going to read it. Then when I go back and tell everyone, just kidding, they aren't going to see that. Fast forward down the road and you have someone seeing a post, and there is clearly no pregnancy. Insert awkward conversation. The other possibility is no conversation and they go on thinking you have lost the pregnancy.
The other not so funny thing is that there are many women in my life who I know personally who have never lost a child because they have never been able to conceive a child. I don't know if it was such an issue when I was younger, but it seems I know more and more women whose hearts desire is to have a child and they can't. I know that plenty of them can take a joke, but really how funny is it?
There are also the not so funny, fake pregnancies. They are not the ones that are meant to be a joke. They are meant to manipulate and control. Sharing with others that you are pregnant to get a man to stay with you is not the answer to any situation. I got pregnant and I wish I hadn't married the man or kept him in my life. If lying is the only way to keep someone, they are better left out of your life.
I am all for a good joke. I don't get offended easily. I know other moms who have lost children who don't care what you post on your social media, or how you joke around. It is all a personal preference. The key is knowing your audience. If you send out a mass text to family and friends as a joke, no harm, no foul. Everyone gets a good laugh out of it, they tell you that you better get working on it, and life moves on. Jokes are all in the eye of the beholder.
When you get the urge to joke on social media, about pregnancy, think of your audience. The joke is only funny if people are laughing with you. Blank stares and tears are not a good joke.
If you want a joke, try this one: Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.
