TORONTO – It’s a boy!
Your Twitter and Instagram feeds may have been peppered with some obscure tweets and photos Wednesday morning. Between the 140-character stories about the morning commute and the lineups at Starbucks, doctors in Houston, Tex. are live-tweeted from the operating room as they delivered a baby via Cesarean section.
This was Twitter’s first live surgical birth. By just after 10:30 a.m. ET, the doctors had delivered a healthy baby boy.
“Mom meets baby for the 1st time,” the @houstonhospital tweet, accompanying this photo, said.
Follow the Twittercast @houstonhospital or via the hash tag #MHBaby.
Starting at 8:30 ET, obstetrician Dr. Anne Gonzales of Women’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, will be walked the Twitterverse through the birthing process, from initial testing, anesthesia to the first surgical incision and delivery of the baby, the hospital said on its website.
“Live, up-close video, still photography and play-by-play tweets will inform and education the public along the way,” the hospital said in a statement.
More photos and videos were added to Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest and Storify along the way.
Watch video of the delivery here. (Warning: the video may be graphic to some readers. The content shows the C-section from the initial incision to doctors taking the baby out of his mother’s womb.
The report notes that Gonzales was joined by Dr. Amelia Chu, who wore a GoPro head camera to give viewers a surgeon’s eye view of the procedure.
For anyone who was confused, a third expert will be responded to questions from those on Twitter to explain what’s going on.
The mother, 39, who is taking centre stage has had a C-section before, U.S. outlets say. Her identity will remain anonymous.
The Twittercast is meant to educate and inform the public, the hospital said.
This is not Memorial Hermann hospital’s first foray into live-tweeting medical procedures: it has already live-tweeted open-heart surgery last February, meanwhile in May, it live-tweeed a brain operation, Mashable says.
Sound off: Are you interested in watching and reading about the miracle of life as it happens or is it too much information? Tell us what you think on Facebook.
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