Using social media to announce the birth

CLEVELAND - I am 27-years-old and if I asked my parents how they told family and friends about my birth in 1983, they would have said by phone. I feel sorry for them because my Dad’s family is huge, with 13 siblings. That’s a lot of calls.

The other issue is the order you call people.

Let’s face it, everyone wants to be the first to know. With the advent of Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging, my announcement to friends and family and the world would be very simple and a bit of a race.

After an entire day of labor the doctor came in and said that Mason was going to have to come out via c-section. Immediately, my mother-in-law asked how many people could be in the operating room, knowing the answer but hoping it was different: one and it was going to be me. So I put on my blue paper gown, shoe coverings, and prepared to follow Mandi to the operating room.

Before we headed to the operating room, our doctor asked if I had a camera phone. Being a news photographer, I thought the question was a little funny. I had a digital camera, a small pocket video camera, and a camera phone all ready to go.

The doctor sugested taking a picture when he’s born and sending it to someone in the waiting room. I had thought of sending pictures to Facebook and Twitter fast but I thought those sitting in the waiting room should see it before that creepy neighbor that friended you on Facebook.

I had been tweeting and posting updates on Facebook for over 28-hours at this point, and I knew that I had a pretty captive audience.

Mason was born at 8:21p.m., and  I immediately took a picture with my phone and sent it to my sister in the waiting room. I’m sure that was her most anticipated text message. That covered all the family at the hospital.

I spent a few more minutes making sure I took in the moment and I stress to take in the moment because it's amazing how much is going on and how loud an infant is at two minutes old. I took one more picture and posted it to Facebook. Mason was 9 minutes old and everyone that had been hitting refresh every 15 seconds not only had the announcement, but also had a picture.

One of my regrets is that my wife also has a smart phone and I had been updating her Facebook during the day. I wish I would've taken her phone and posted for all of the people that aren't mutual friends.

I never made one call that night and I never got a call about whether I had become a Dad yet. I think that’s important because who wants to sit on the phone and listen to people scream in excitement and then pass the phone around the room three times? It took 30 seconds to tell everyone.

I know that smart phones aren't going to work for everyone and maybe some hospitals have cell phone policies. Remember your laptop because every hospital has wifi somewhere and it beats calling everyone and not getting to enjoy the moment.