The first people they shared the news of their pregnancy with were Scovel's parents, who live nearby in Southern Iowa. Soon after came their first doctor's appointment at six weeks, where they heard a strong heartbeat
Brittany Scovel and Austin Peebler had always dreamed of starting a family. So when a surprise positive pregnancy test arrived in mid-April, it was a moment filled with joy and disbelief.
Scovel, 23, first noticed something was different when her breasts felt sore. She and her fiancé hadn't been actively trying, but decided to take a test anyway. When the result came back positive, she was stunned.
After telling Peebler, the couple -- who are getting married later this year -- rushed to double-check. They stopped at a Dollar General, where Scovel took another test in the parking lot.
"It said 'pregnant.' I was scared, excited... everything at once," Scovel, a content creator, tells PEOPLE exclusively over Zoom. "What was going through my mind was just the stress of the wedding, how far along I'd be, and figuring out how to announce it on social media. I was super nervous and hesitant about telling anyone online because I felt this protective barrier around it."
The first people they shared the news with were Scovel's parents, who live nearby in Southern Iowa. Soon after came their first doctor's appointment at six weeks, where they heard a strong heartbeat. The couple marveled at the ultrasound images and began tracking their baby's growth every week through an app. Everything seemed perfect.
But at the end of May, everything changed.
Scovel was on a retreat in Wyoming with other social media creators from May 29 to June 4. On June 3, during the final leg of the trip, she and her group stopped in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where they had booked an Airbnb. That evening, after settling in, Scovel went to the bathroom and noticed bright red bleeding.
Earlier that morning, she'd seen some light brown spotting but hadn't thought much of it, knowing that it could be normal in pregnancy.
"When I saw the blood, the first thing I said to the girls was, 'Should I be concerned? Should I be worried?' " she recalls.
Her friends encouraged her to go to the nearest hospital. On the way, Scovel called her mom, who reached out to a friend who is an OB-GYN. She also called her hospital back home, but the nurse on the phone only heightened her fear. "She said the word 'miscarriage' twice, and that was a trigger for me," Scovel says. "I did not want to hear those words. I didn't expect this could ever happen to me. That's when I really started freaking out."
At the hospital, Scovel told her friends to wait outside while she underwent bloodwork, multiple ultrasounds and long stretches of waiting.
"I had a gut feeling something was wrong, and during the vaginal ultrasound, I could feel the blood leaking out of me," she says.
Then, finally, her worst fear was confirmed. With her phone recording, Scovel captured the moment the doctor explained that there was no longer a sac and the pregnancy had ended naturally. In tears, she called her mom, who then told Peebler in person.
Later, Scovel FaceTimed her fiancé, and the couple sat in silence, unsure how to process what had just happened.
"Time is healing all of it," she says. "Having the support around me, I'm able to grieve with my partner. I can see that he's emotional, that he does care, and he's feeling the emotions just like me."
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When the couple first learned they were pregnant, it happened just a day before their engagement session. During the shoot, they captured both engagement photos and a pregnancy video announcement.
After the miscarriage, Scovel wrestled with what to do with that footage. While it had been meant to celebrate their exciting news, she didn't want to use it in a way that might mislead people into thinking she was still pregnant.
Instead, she chose to share her story openly. She paired the joyful engagement clips with audio from the hospital on June 5, confirming the miscarriage.
"POV: you were days away from telling the world about your biggest secret," she wrote on the video, which has since gone viral, reaching 2.7 million people.
"I'm known for being authentic, sharing the truths, not sugarcoating it," Scovel says. "I knew I wanted to tell my audience, but I didn't know how. I wanted to do it in a way that made sense, so people could understand and interpret what happened to me."
When she first posted the video, Scovel admits she wasn't in the best state of mind, but she was trying to come to terms with what had happened. In the caption, she explained that while many people have experienced miscarriage, she wasn't ready to engage with others' stories yet -- because it felt like comparing their hurt to hers.
"I knew if I didn't disclose that, it could trigger certain thoughts or emotions," she says. "But at the same time, I would have been mad at myself for not sharing anything at all. It's complicated, and there's some guilt I'm still working through."
Ultimately, she hopes her vulnerability makes others feel less alone.
"I truly just hope that people who've gone through something similar feel less alone," she says. "A lot of people experience this, but not everyone has support. However someone interprets my story, I want it to be real and authentic -- so maybe it makes them feel better about their situation and reminds them they are worthy. It's not their fault, and their time will come."
"I still want to have my own family with the man I love and the one I'm going to marry," she adds. "Just knowing him and his family, and the way he treats his brothers and sisters, I know he's going to be the greatest dad possible. That's something I really look forward to."