Hilaria Baldwin, the 35-year-old wife of actor Alec Baldwin, has revealed on Instagram that she is pregnant for the fifth time, and that sadly, she also believes she is currently experiencing a miscarriage. Baldwin posted a photo of herself (mostly unclothed) on Instagram, revealing a small baby bump. In the photo, her expression seems pained.
Explaining that she is sharing this deeply personal information to find “support” and also because she hopes “I can contribute to raising awareness about this sensitive topic,” Baldwin writes candidly about her desire to get rid of the “secrecy” surrounding miscarriage and early pregnancy.
I want to share with you that I am most likely experiencing a miscarriage. I always promised myself that if I were to get pregnant again, I would share the news with you guys pretty early, even if that means suffering a public loss. I have always been so open with you all about my family, fitness, pregnancies…and I don’t want to keep this from you, just because it isn’t as positive and shiny as the rest….
I have no shame or embarrassment with this experience. I want to be a part of the effort to normalize miscarriage and remove the stigma from it. There is so much secrecy during the first trimester. This works for some, but I personally find it to be exhausting. I’m nauseous, tired, my body is changing. And I have to pretend that everything is just fine—and it truly isn’t. I don’t want to have to pretend anymore. I hope you understand.
Baldwin’s honesty is refreshing and important. She correctly acknowledges that many women experiencing miscarriages feel great shame and devastation, and frequently blame themselves for a loss that often happens without explanation. And telling friends and family about a miscarriage is often dreaded, with reactions ranging from insensitive remarks to words that are meant to be reassuring, but serve instead to minimize the loss of a very real child in the womb.
Baldwin went on, making it clear that she is in the first trimester of her pregnancy:
So, this is what is going on now: the embryo has a heartbeat, but it isn’t strong, and the baby isn’t growing very much. So we wait—and this is hard. So much uncertainty…but the chances are very, very small that this is a viable pregnancy.
Baldwin calls her very much wanted child a “baby” and she also admits that he or she “has a heartbeat, but it isn’t strong.” In other words, even in the first trimester, the preborn baby’s heartbeat should be strong… and yes, it is indeed a heartbeat. In the first trimester, a preborn baby’s organ systems are all in place. The baby’s heart has been beating since between 16 and 21 days after fertilization, with detectable brain waves starting at day 39. By the end of the first trimester, babies in the womb can even make facial expressions.
READ: First trimester babies aren’t blobs of tissue — they’re amazingly complex
“I have complete confidence that my family and I will get through this, even if the journey is difficult,” Baldwin wrote. “I am so blessed with my amazing doctor, my dear friends, and my loving family…. My husband and my four very healthy babies help me keep it together and have the perspective of how truly beautiful life is, even when it occasionally seems ugly. The luck and gratitude I feel that I am my babies’ mommy, is wonderfully overwhelming and comforting.”
Baldwin is also a mommy to her little one in the womb — as is every woman who is expecting a child. Many women who also experienced pregnancy loss spoke up to share their stories with Baldwin and to wish her healing following her initial post.
“Thank you for the support and for your stories… this is why I wanted to share…” Baldwin replied on her Instagram stories. “[W]e are such a community here. And may we continue to stick together and lift each other up,” she wrote, as quoted by UPI.com.
Baldwin and her husband have had four other children together in their 12 years of marriage — five-year-old Carmen, three-year-old Rafael, two-year-old Leonardo, and 10-month-old Romeo. Baldwin’s husband Alec also has a 23-year-old daughter, Ireland, from his previous marriage to actress Kim Basinger.
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