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Would you invite the world into your labor room?
October 27th, 2009, 1:20 pm · 5 Comments · posted by Theresa Walker, Editor
Is this taking social networking too far? A mom-to-be says she is going to give birth live on the Gannett-run site TwinCities.MomsLikeMe.com that serves the St. Paul-Minneapolis area. She is due sometime in November.
According to an article in the Washington Business Journal, the woman identified only as Lynsee says she wants to share the moment of her child’s birth with all the online friends who have supported her during her pregnancy as well as show support to other first-time moms.
Why not just set up a delivery room in the middle of The Mall of America? Anybody can join the Watch Lynsee Grow! group on the Web site.
I know, I know. It’s just the natural progression of the sharing that makes social networking the dynamo that it is and makes us feel less lonely in a Big Old Mean World.
But doesn’t anybody find privacy and intimacy a precious commodity anymore? Aren’t there some moments in life that are so special you want to savor them first with the flesh-and-blood people closest to you instead of turning them into a semi-public or public event with virtual friends?
I can see where bringing a planned baby shower to a hospital-bound expectant mom via a laptop, as in the case of Roxanne’s sister, is a great and wonderful use of high technology because she couldn’t be part of her own baby shower otherwise.
And I do understand Lynsee’s desire to include her online support group in what will likely be the most joyful moment of her life. But doesn’t something like this just turn your life into your own version of Reality TV?
Go ahead, bash me for being old fashioned, but can’t you just shoot a video and share that with everyone afterward? (And I’m not talking about YouTube, either.)
I just asked a pregnant colleague if she would give birth live on our Web site. She looked at me kind of funny and said, “Have you seen some of those childbirth videos? Are they trying to scare people?”
I take that as a No.
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I wouldn’t do it. In fact, I told my husband, in no uncertain terms, that neither his mother nor my mother nor anyone else besides himself and hospital staff were to darken the labor room door, on pain of death. What can I say? I wasn’t in a sharing mood.
That being said, if the woman is all for it, I do think there is a place for accurate labor videos, and if it’s through a newspaper, there’s always a chance that this could be actually educational. For someone. Somewhere. Probably.
Still, I wouldn’t do it, no way, no how. But there are plenty of things I wouldn’t do, so I guess it’s fine with me whatever the woman decides, as long as she’s totally comfortable.
You’re right, it is an individual decision. If she’s comfortable with it, which she obviously is, then she can do what she wants. But I’m like you — no way, no how I would want to do that. I wonder about our increasing willingness to share everything with everybody. The other night my husband and son were fascinated looking at Google street photos that showed our home with my car parked in the driveway and my husband’s out front. It bothered me, though. Felt like an invasion of my privacy, even though it’s a house on a public street.
I’m with you guys. I was unhappy enough my requests my immediate family stay outside were ignored. And that my teenage sister’s boyfriend decided to show up.
I had an online support group when I was prego. I still keep in touch with most of the women from that group.
No way I would webcast my delivery to them and I doubt anyone of them would want to see it anyway! We told our birth stories - on our forum. We texted and called each other when we went into labor.
There are plenty of delivery videos on YouTube too.
My best friend of 30 years lives in TX, (I live in CA) she moved there 10 years ago, and I haven’t been able to be in the delivery room with her for her first two children. However, when she had her 3rd (and final) baby she brought her laptop into the delivery room and we Skyped during the entire delivery! Her parents came over to my house and we all coached her through it together! And I heard her baby’s first cry! It was amazing and of course I cried, too! I’m so thankful for this kind of technology.