3rd Trimester
Need Opinions on Twittering about Labor
DH wants to create a Twitter account (neither of us have one at the moment), purely to keep everyone up-to-date about everything baby and the laboring process. I told him no, it will be just one more thing to worry about. And he came back with, but it's easier to do that than text messaging or calling everyone when it comes to updates about you and the baby.
What do you all think? Is this practical or is he just nuts to think he will have the time to do that? I already told him if we end up doing this that he can't count on me to make the updates. I'll be busy giving birth to his daughter...
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Re: Need Opinions on Twittering about Labor
Proud Mama to Mickey (12.03.09) and Nemo (06.06.13)
I would never do this, but I also don't want to send anyone updates about my labor and delivery. I think it's private. I also don't want my ILs to know when I'm in labor because I don't want to see them until I've had LO and am ready for visitors.
I set up a google email group, so it will be really easy for my Dad to just send everyone an email when LO is born, and then another one when we are ready for visitors at home. My friends and family all joined the group. I can also use it to send pics of LO or whatever else I want after he is born.
Do you really want your DH Twittering about your cervical progress when he should be focused on the birth of your baby? Just a thought.
I'm not a fan of Twitter/Facebook/Myspace or any of that, but we bought a domain name and set up a website for our little guy when we found out we were pregnant. Most of our family is out of state and it is a great way to keep them updated without the whole world knowing all of our business (we can password-protect it if it ever comes to that).
When I hit 37 weeks, we plan to email all of our family and let them know that when I go into labor we will email or text them to notify everyone. Then if they want updates they can go to the website's homepage for a running "blog" of what is going on. I envision it looking like twitter: "2:52 pm: we are at the hospital safely and getting the IV" etc. I'll also let everyone know that my phone will be off (it won't) so I don't spend the time worried about texting/calling people back.
Our hospital has wi-fi and iweb is super fast and easy to update so I think this will be perfect! It will keep everybody who wants to know (close family and friends, NOT the whole world haha) in the loop, even if they are at work, since it is not a blocked networking website.
I think your husband has a good idea! The responsibility of updating our status rests on the shoulders of my husband, since I will be giving birth.
EDIT: I should also say that we haven't had a baby in our family for 20 years and people will be wanting CONSTANT updates!
I have a high school friend who updated his facebook (even including pictures) several times while his wife was in labor.
Updates wouldn't be so bad...but I'd kill DH if he tried taking and posting pictures. I guess if your family is expecting constant updates, it would be stressful. If you go into it with the expectation that he "might" update if time allows, that would be a better plan.
i think if that works best for you (to inform everyone at once about whats going on) then why not! but i would ask DH to not post too many details, like "the doc is doing an internal at the moment" haha
i am debating on whether i want to facebook my labor, i think i am just going to inform everyone when im heading to the hospital and then when i have the baby, and spare the in between details! lol
I offered this to my mom who wanted to be at the hospital with us as an alternative.
She thought it was a cold way to learn about her daughter's birth process and got more offended than if I had just told her not to come to the hospital.
So, at this point, I'm not a fan of it
I'm a big fan of twitter, but I don't think it's for everyone. I think it'll only be easier for you if all those people you want to inform are on twitter and following your posts. Otherwise, you'll have to text your twitter account and that list of people who didn't want your twitter updates. Could get a little hairy.
I plan on tweeting from the hospital, although my followers are mostly the guys at work and some friends who probably won't care too much. Oh well.
My sister just had her 3rd child in July and she updated her FB every step of the way and had no drugs she was au natural! It was kind of cool I couldn't be there so it was neat to know what was going on all the time.
This is my plan too. I am not too keen on everyone knowing what exactly is going on.... they can know when he gets here and ask questions after if they want to know more. Just my opinion
Wow - I would never have even considered that. DH and I were much too focussed on the events at hand to be messing about with a PC or cell phone. You might also want to check if cell use is even allowed in the delivery room - many hospitals don't allow it, which would mean DH leaving you everytime something happened worth updating - yuck!
If he's concerned about keeping so many people in the loop, here's what I recommend (and did with my first). Designate some family member you trust to be the information gate keeper. Tell anyone who asks in advance that that person is the one to call if they can't reach you all of a sudden. Pick someone who can calmly repeat "they are at the hospital, we'll let you know when baby is here" a billion times to the same nosy grandmother and won't pester you for updates themselves. Provide that person with a list of people to be kept in the loop and when you head into the hospital, make that one phone call (after calling your OB, of course). Then turn off the cell phones, put them in the hospital suitcase and focus on baby.
If you find yourself plugged into an epidural and bored waiting for something to happen, you can call that person and give an update, and find out who has been asking about you and who might want to chat. If you are going natural, you aren't gonna want to talk to anyone anyway. If there is news worth relating (like "they are prepping for an emergency CSection" or "contractions stopped, they are sending us home") DH can make a single phone call to spread the word.
Even once baby is born, let that person help make the calls and then you can concentrate on calling the people you really want to talk to and having a real conversation *when you are ready*.
My sister was a godsend in this process when I had my first. I called her and my boss (boss to say "going to hospital, not coming in today") and when DS was born we called her first and told her to spread the word but we'd call our own folks. ( I really wanted to be the one to tell my Mom and Dad "suprise, it's a boy!" after months of expecting a girl). It made the whole day less stressful and got the point across early that we were busy focussing on baby, so not to be offended if we seemed anti-social for the next several weeks.