We’ve already seen a livetweeted vasectomy, livetweeted family death, and a livetweeted emergency-room trip with an object lodged inside… well, you’ll see. Creating a running log of everything that’s happening in a traumatic or intense hospital experience seems to have therapeutic effects. Even when giving birth.
When Twitter employee Claire Diaz-Ortiz felt her water break as she went into labor, she did what many pregnant women with Internet access do: She googled “Am I in labor?!”
Unlike many pregnant women, Diaz-Ortiz stayed plugged in throughout her labor process, livetweeting the birth of her daughter, Lucia. She even wore a Twitter sweatshirt to the hospital.
Contractions 5 minutes apart. My @twitter jacket on. Headed to hospital. #inlabor pic.twitter.com/ZYANny1ZsB
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
She was remarkably chill throughout the undertaking of pushing a human out of her body. Even when her car broke down on the way to the hospital and she had to hail a taxi with her husband, Diaz-Ortiz kept calm and tweeted on, right up until her daughter successfully exited her body.
Speed bumps on road and contractions don’t mix. #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Car overheating?! Stopping at gas station. #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Filled tank with water. Back on highway. #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Car overheating again. Another gas station. Woe is me. #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Mechanic says car fine. Gives me thumbs up. Tells us to get to hospital. #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Car now broken down. On side of road. Need taxi. #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Can’t find taxi. Is this a joke?!? #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Taxi found. Checked in at hospital. Screaming women abound. #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
This is how I feel: BLERGH!!!!! #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
She tweeted her way through the pain, but even Diaz-Ortiz has her Twitter limits; she announced plans to take a break to focus on bonding with her new baby.
Baby girl born! Now, to bond. (Read: See ‘ya in a bit, @twitter). #inlabor
— Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@Claire) April 5, 2014
Diaz-Ortiz is the first Twitter employee to use social media to document giving birth, but she’s far from the only person to do it. A California woman named Ruth Fowler was banned from Facebook last January for posting updates from her home birth due to graphic imagery, but she also posted the same content to Twitter, documenting the often-unexamined details of childbirth.
Little Lucia Diaz-Ortiz lacks the motor skills to livetweet her first days as a person, but her mom already locked down @lucia as a handle for her newborn. If Lucia takes after her mother, she may become the first person to livetweet giving birth whose own birth was livetweeted.
H/T Business Insider | Photo via Flickr/Vinoth Chandar (CC BY 2.0)