real life

Womb tubing ... is nothing private anymore?

Who was the first person you told you were pregnant? Before YouTube it may have gone something like this:

1. Partner

2. Doctor

3. Mother

4. Family and friends

Or, depending on the state of your relationship it may have looked more like this:

1. Mother

2. Doctor

3. Partner

4. Family and friends

Now, we have a new addition to that list. YouTube.

There is a disturbing new trend called 'Womb Tubing' where pregnant woman are sharing their happy news to the world before they tell their significant other. There are currently over 12,000 videos of women posting footage of themselves waiting for the result of pregnancy tests. This very personal moment is also being shared on Facebook and Twitter.

The sad twist is that 80% of miscarriages happen in the first 12 weeks so some of these women don't keep their pregnancies. There's a reason we're told to wait until the first trimester is over before sharing pregnancy news.

So why are women womb tubing?

Is it because they need to share the news with a supportive community? They may be scared, excited and nervous. The thought of millions of strangers being happy for them helps give them the strength to tell partners, family and friends.

Still, it's a concern that we seem to have become incapable of living significant moments of our lives without recording videos and taking photos, then uploading them to various sites, for posterity.

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Not all of the womb tubing videos are met with a warm reception. Some have received comments like, 'nobody cares, why do you do this, who cares to see your life in this aspect?'

Jessica Vazquez shared her news on YouTube. She filmed herself taking a test while her husband and daughter slept. She then posted the video, saying, “Oh my God, oh my God, there's a plus. A big fat positive 18 days past ovulation!” she says crying in joy and disbelief at the result on the stick and the 10-year age gap there will be between her children. “I'm going to have a baby.”

If you search for 'live pregnancy test you'll get more than 200,000 results.

Here are some of our other favourites.

"I took this w/ my phone while the kids & Joel were asleep in the bed, enjoying an afternoon nap :) This is the day we found out we were pregnant. Our first test wasn't very clear so Joel picked up a digital test & this was the results :) I remember saying I'd share this, unfortunately it's taken forever for me to finally get it on the computer to be able to upload it but here you go :)" Lucy

"To answer the same questions I keep getting over and over again: I'm 24 and I'm not upset in this video. I was shocked and extremely happy. We were trying for this baby and just had a miscarriage at 11 weeks 3 months before this." Erin

Who did you share your happy news with first?

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