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Facebook adds ‘expecting a baby’ timeline option

Expecting a baby? Make it Facebook official.

Parents-to-be already post plenty of sonogram pics on Facebook, announcing the good news to family, friends, and cyber-community. Now they can do so officially, thanks to a new option on Facebook's Timeline.

For Facebook users with Timeline enabled, a new "Expecting a Baby" option is available in the list of Life Events, complete with places to identify gender and due date — if the expectant parents don't choose to keep these details private.

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Due dates will appear in the Celebrations section of friends' Facebook pages where they currently see upcoming birthdays and scheduled events.

"Life Events are easy and expressive ways to mark significant moments in your life such as getting married, buying a house or traveling to new places," Matthew Dierker writes in a release for Facebook. "If you choose to, you can now share that you are expecting a baby with your friends on Facebook."

The LA Times explains how to access the new announcement.

"To access the new option, go to your Timeline and click on Life Event. From there choose Family & Relationships and a list of selections containing Expecting a Baby will come up."

If you don't see the option, it's because Facebook is rolling out the new Life Event slowly. Only some profiles currently have access to it, but everyone should have access to it in a matter of days, a Facebook spokesperson tells TODAY.com.

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The new feature was designed to replace a more confusing option to add "Expected: Child" to your list of family members, TechCrunch reports.

While announcing a pregnancy on Facebook might be an efficient way of sharing the news with a huge group of people, here are some more fun, creative ways to share the news with loved ones before you post your due date online.

And here are three Redbook readers' well-received announcement strategies.

How did you announce your pregnancy? Or how will you in the future? Tell us in the comments.

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