When Nichole Kelly went into labor, nearly 3,000 people were the first to know.
With the help of a smartphone and her Twitter account, the social media enthusiast was able to spread the good news to all of her followers at once from her room at Howard County General Hospital.
Baby Giavanna, 5 pounds 14 ounces and 19.25 inches long, arrived at 5:06 p.m. on July 14. Soon after, her proud mother tweeted a picture and message: "Welcome to the world Giavanna Marie Kelly."
Kelly, 33, and her husband, Jay Kelly, 37, who live in Hampstead in Carroll County, said they used Twitter updates throughout the labor because it was the most efficient way to keep the largest number of people informed.
"You can update so many more people at once," Jay said.
"It was our way of letting our friends and family and even complete strangers who follow me … know what was going on," Nichole said. A social media consultant, she created her Twitter account, @Nichole_Kelly, in 2008 and now has 2,637 followers.
Nichole's company, Full Frontal ROI, based in Baltimore, specializes in measuring the bottom-line impact of a business' presence in the social media sphere. While most of her tweets are social media-related, the transition to personal updates came naturally.
"This is what she focuses on all day," Jay said. "It was natural for her to tweet about it."
"When [Jay and I] were talking about it, we thought 'this would be a perfect opportunity for people to see a little bit of the personal side of me," Nichole added.
Sharon Sopp, senior communications manager for Howard County General, said this was the first time hospital officials had heard of a woman tweeting through labor. But with the rise of smartphones and the hospital's free wireless internet service, she said there was no way of knowing whether other women have done the same. The hospital delivers 10 babies a day on average, Sopp said.
Nichole said tweeting through labor provided a good distraction at times. "It kind of gave me something to think about," she said.
When her contractions started coming faster, she signed off — only to sign back on shortly after getting an epidural. "Epidural… so nice! Much happier," she tweeted.
Nichole did impose a few limits on the details she sent out to the web: "I promise, no crotch shots!" she responded to a follower who requested she "do us all a favor and stop before the actual delivery ;-)"
Nichole plans on continuing to use Twitter as a platform to update friends, family and followers about Giavanna's milestones. When her two older sons, Huntor and Kaden, came to visit their sister in the hospital, she tweeted a picture of their first meeting. She and Jay have even created an account, @giavannakelly, for their new daughter, the first for the couple.
In addition to providing a platform for updates, Nichole wanted to reserve the Twitter handle so Giavanna could use it when she is old enough.
Until then, her parents are doing the talking for her: "Parents would sleep ALL night if I let them. Day/night confusion. Need 2 train 'em...exhausted."