Lost Remote » Guy live-Twitter’s wife’s childbirth, lives to tell about it

Guy live-Twitter’s wife’s childbirth, lives to tell about it

Steve Safran August 5th, 2007

Rex points us to ~~what has to be a first~~ an interesting event in Twitter-land. Twitter user taulpaul (real name Paul Saarinen) live-Twittered his wife, Annemarie, giving birth. Cool idea - breaking news for your friends who are dying to know the latest. But you’d have to think Paul’s wife would (rightly) have said at least occasionally “put down the damn Blackberry, I’m giving birth here!” After the breaking news text, Paul posted pics on Flickr (detail, right). Back on July 16, they had a false alarm, which he also Twittered. (Update: Paul also streamed live from the birthing room. We now love his wife.) Still, apparently, Annemarie hasn’t killed Paul, which any judge would have probably allowed. And we welcome baby Elle Marie Saarinen (7 lbs, 21 inches) to the world. Elle - Dad’s gonna be a bit of a gadget freak, but don’t let that worry you.

Adds taulpaul: The real challenge was keeping the ustream.tv video feed from crashing. I suspect the hospital never intended the wifi to be used for lifecasting* births. Elle and Annamarie are doing well. Now I have to go home today and start the process of bluetoothing the baby’s room.

*Adds me: I don’t know if taulpaul meant to coin the word “lifecasting” or if it’s a function of the “f” being directly above the “v” on the keyboard, but I love the word in this context.

Update: OK, I concede to the commenters - this wasn’t the first Twittered birth. I remain impressed. By his wife, that is.

19 Comments Add your own

1. Jackson | August 5th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

I remember back in February when we had to live-blog births because twitter hadn’t caught on yet

But honestly, instantly sharing the experience with friends and family over the internet is an amazing experience. My wife was really glad (after the fact).
2. Rex | August 5th, 2007 at 12:46 pm

Of course this was on the heels of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, so it was so great to see good news on Twitter.

In conclusion, last week I learned about two major events via Twitter: the bridge collapse and the birth of my friend’s baby.
3. Mike D | August 5th, 2007 at 1:01 pm

Actually, one of my Twitter contacts (@ChristianBurns) live-twittered his wife’s birth back in early April. Congrats to Paul and AnneMarie on their baby daughter!
4. Taulpaul | August 5th, 2007 at 1:19 pm

The real challenge was keeping the ustream.tv video feed from crashing. I suspect the hospital never intended the wifi to be used for lifecasting births.

Elle and Annamarie are doing well. Now I have to go home today and start the process of bluetoothing the baby’s room.
5. invitedmedia | August 5th, 2007 at 1:44 pm

“lives to tell about it.”.. and he just did! wow!

congrats from detroit.
6. invitedmedia | August 5th, 2007 at 1:45 pm

pinktoothing, btw.
7. discreet_chaos | August 5th, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Dude - You also broadcast the birth on Ustream?
Your wife must be a saint.

Congrats!
From a father of two, whose wife would’ve never let me do such a thing, if I had even thought to ask.
8. Safran | August 5th, 2007 at 4:57 pm

I don’t know if taulpaul meant to coin the word “lifecasting” or if it’s a function of the “f” being directly above the “v” on the keyboard, but I love the word in this context.

You’ll want to get the baby through blueteething quickly. They can get very cranky.

Congrats, again. I remember my wife looking sideways at me when I sent out a mass email to friends from my handheld a few minutes after my second son’s birth in 2001.
9. Jason | August 5th, 2007 at 6:31 pm

Go to “justin dot tv” to find out about lifecasting. It’s not a new term. But it’s a great term. There are a couple people who are live webcasting their lives. Hence: Lifecasting.
10. discreet_chaos | August 5th, 2007 at 7:43 pm

Steve - Last week, Cindy Adams repeated a Valleywag thing about Natalie Portman seeking backers for her own lifecast. It’s all sort of an extension of those old sites, where people would have their rooms wired and Ed-TV. I don’t know that any of them in current production is all that interesting, but as I blogged recently, I’d probably check in on Ms Portman from time to time, if she doesn’t go subsrcription-only.

Click my name for the tiny Cindy Adams blurb or trial balloon.
11. Anand | August 6th, 2007 at 12:50 am

What an idiot!!

It’s YOUR wife dude..and its YOUR baby…hold their hands when its required..
12. bill streeter | August 6th, 2007 at 6:34 am

Hardly a first. Several people I know have live twittered the birth of their children since I became a regular user in March. The first one I remember was in March in fact. One of my Twitter friends is a maternity ward RN in NYC and regularly twitters about births. It’s actually a pretty obvious thing to do.

But congratulations anyway!
13. Tish Grier | August 6th, 2007 at 7:15 am

Ok–this is YUCK on many levels….first, the general yuck level of childbirth (*you* might think it’s great, but from a woman’s perspective, is this something that really needs to be broadcast–and in any medium??) Second: lifecast? oh, please! All this media openness about our personal lives is hitting the point of overload. We have cameras up the butts of celebreties so much so that it’s obscuring real news–now we’re going to have cameras up th butts of the average citizen too? please! i’m beginning to wish for Walter Cronkite now more than ever!
14. joy | August 6th, 2007 at 7:19 am

marc1919 also twittered the birth of his daughter a few weeks ago.
15. tdc | August 6th, 2007 at 8:03 am

tish, those “camera up the butts” comments will now be picked up by algorithms the world over.

thanks. LR will now be infested by pervs (well, more of them anyways).

later
16. tish grier | August 6th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

oops! sorry ’bout that.. should’ve probably said “up their noses”…then again, I had a blog for years that had a particular “s” word in it, and all that did was boost my readership.
17. Brink | August 6th, 2007 at 3:31 pm

What egos these sorts of people have, to assume that everyone (or anyone) cares about their lives!
18. David Johnson | August 7th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

birth shmirth… let’s see who will be the first to live twitter their vasectomy. “@drevil: you’re right, a freshly shorn scrotum is quite breathtaking!!!”
19. annamarie saarinen | October 23rd, 2007 at 9:18 pm

I wonder if I am allowed in on this…no one will likely read this 2.5 months later. But I’m obliged to say I fully endorsed my husband’s geekdom during my labor. I’m pretty sure we were both in this endeavor for the right reasons. And it’s been pretty cool for me to look back at his take on the events of an exceptional day in our lives. Not sure how this is much different than my dad taking polaroids in the delivery room in 1969.

Brink — no egos involved. WE couldn’t care less whether YOU or others in the vast webland are interested in our daughters birth. Gratefully we have our own family and friends that are.

Anand — I hope to heaven I’m able to articulate when and how often I need my hand held. This wasn’t every couples birth plan. But it was ours and it worked just as it should have.

Ms. Grier, (is your name really Tish??) God, I’m sorry luv. This is baby # 2 for me - and YUCK simply doesn’t apply. OK, so mega-adult diapers and copious amounts of fluid aren’t the lovliest part, but having a child is beauty in it’s simplest, most raw form. I am blessed to have experienced it. And I believe Paul brought his own unique personality to his experience as a new dad. He’s a nerd (a hot nerd, but still a nerd). Using Twitter before anyone knew what the hell Twitter was.

Finally, I know my butt doesn’t compare to a celebrity butt…butt I’m pretty sure the camera wouldn’t fit. Before or after birth.

PS For the record, Walter Cronkite is a national treasure. Would have gladly sent him a Twitter invite to the birth…

Invitedmedia — “Pinktoothing”….I love that. Thanks for the congrates. She is a sweet, sweet girl - who I’m sure will someday view our mode of documentation of her birth like we view the 8-track. “Live Twitter…God, that’s so last decade!!”

Rex, you rock.