Sabay-sabay Nabuntis! BFFs Bring Bonding To The Next Level

Nothing quite solidifies friendships than sharing something in common with the rest of the members. Who hasn’t gone through that time in high school when every member of the group would just go for identical things like the same shirt color, same notebook, the same pens, or even the same haircut.

From BFFs to baby bumps

One Davao-based barkada who call themselves ‘Bhaikazy’ has gone through all that but little did they know that they would share something quite ‘uncommon’ into adulthood. It turns out that five out of the 16 members of their group are pregnant – all at the same time.

It was something they kept from each other at first but during one of their monthly barkada group chats, they discovered not just one but five members of Bhaizaky are ‘expecting’.

“During pandemic we constantly communicated through social media just to update each other about how our lives are going,” shares Cherley through Messenger with Smart Parenting.

While in the middle of the chat, one of their friends, Ayrra, revealed that she was pregnant. “Sunod sunod na kaming nag reveal dahil di na makapaghintay na magkita personally,” says Cherley. 

The revelation seemed like déjà vu and brought them back to their high school days when they all wanted to be ‘matchy-matchy.’ “Since high school mahilig na kami mag pa terno-terno and [we like doing] the same activities,” shares Cherley, who is also pregnant. She adds that their group’s name, Bhaikazy, is a play of words where Bhai stands for friend, ‘Ka’ stands for KAmi and ‘Zy’ for craZY.

Is pregnancy contagious?

Getting pregnant at the same time as your closest friends may sound surprising, but it may be more common than you think. According to a 2014 study led by Nicoletta Balbo and Nicola Barban, which was published in the journal American Sociological Association, a friend’s pregnancy “positively influences an individual’s risk of becoming a parent."

Researchers analyzed data on 1,720 women who participated in a national study of adolescent health in the United States from mid-1990s to mid-2000s. They tracked female participants who were at least 15 years old in 1995, and through home interviews done for the study, researchers found out that more than half of the women bore a child by the time the final interviews were finished in 2008 or 2009.

Some of these women were friends with at least 10 other participants, and researchers used this information to find patterns among group of friends as they grew older. They found that those who were close in high school and remained friends through later years had a “strong contagion element for planned pregnancy.”

Friends since highschool

Everyone met as high school students at Saint Peter's College of Toril in Davao City. “We came from different sections pero its God’s plan talaga na mabuo kami. [We kept our friendship until we] graduated sa college and mas naging close pa kami nung naging professionals na lahat,” says Cherley.

She adds they have been friends for a total of 13 years and are, in fact, celebrating their anniversary this January 13.

To celebrate and commemorate the great and unexpected reveal, Cherley said she invited the group to have a pictorial in August 2021. Those photos are now making the rounds in social media and shows the BFFs proudly holding their ultrasound photos and their baby bumps. Their unique story has also since been picked up by different media.

Of the five pregnant friends, one has already given birth last December, Cherley is expecting hers on January, two are due this March and another one on May. 

Since finding out about their pregnancies, the Bhaizakys only grew closer, says Cherley. “Mas exciting palagi ang topic sa group chat kasi we would share each others’ pregnancy experience and update each other sa mga pinagdadaanan namin.”

It is their wish that their children share the same kind of friendship once they are big enough. “Looking forward kami na maging close din [yung mga anak namin] in the future para mas lumaki ang Bhaikazy family,” concludes Cherley.

Theirs is a beautiful story of friendship that, no doubt, will be shared with their children who will soon make up the second generation of Bhaikazys.  

Do you have a unique pregnancy story that you wish to share? Send it to smartparenting@summitmedia.com.ph.