Twitterbirth

Niki and I both use Twitter, despite the fact that neither one of us is a teenage girl. When Niki went into labor 10 days ago, she kept her family and friends updated via Twitter. None of them follow her using the service itself. They just kept reloading her blog to see the new updates in her sidebar. To them, Niki was just updating her blog.

While Niki was sending her tweets, I was sending mine. Here’s a recap of our birth-related tweets, including the ones about Liv going back into the hospital with severe jaundice. She’s much better now.

• Niki Going in tomorrow at 6am to be induced! 7:40PM Mar 30
• Niki @sarahgilbert, but I am soooo ready for me to have this baby. This is the longest preg so far…39.5 weeks. i am excited too, also nervous. 10:58PM Mar 30
• Niki I have a bad tummy ache. Can’t figure out if it is the v spicy Mexican food I had for dinner or a case of nervous jitters. Probably both! 11:01PM Mar 30
• Brian Waiting in the admission room while Niki gets her blood drawn. I can’t wait to explain to our daughter that they use a red pen for that. 😉 7:07AM Mar 31
• Brian 6am at the hospital on two hours sleep — surrounded by soda machines — is making me reconsider that whole “I’m giving up Diet Coke” thing. 7:23AM Mar 31
• Brian Wondering if I can live Twitter Niki giving birth to our girl today and make every tweet exactly one hundred and forty characters. Unlikely. 7:52AM Mar 31
• Brian Niki’s dictating a Twitter message for me to send from her Verizon Samsung phone. I am totally lost without my BlackBerry’s qwerty keyboard. 8:45AM Mar 31
• Niki Starting IV now. 8:57AM Mar 31
• Niki Makes sense. You can’t have ‘Liv’ without ‘iv’. 9:02AM Mar 31
• Niki Just broke my water. 9:21AM Mar 31
• Brian After the second Nirvana song came on Niki’s iPod (not my doing, I swear) Niki had me switch to all Jack Johnson. Now that’s birthing music. 9:23AM Mar 31
• Niki Nurse asked if I am organ donor. Very reassuring. 9:46AM Mar 31
• Niki @sarahgilbert, but I am soooo ready for me to have this baby. This is the longest preg so far…39.5 weeks. i am excited too, also nervous. 10:58PM Mar 30
• Niki I have a bad tummy ache. Can’t figure out if it is the v spicy Mexican food I had for dinner or a case of nervous jitters. Probably both! 11:01PM Mar 30
• Brian Waiting in the admission room while Niki gets her blood drawn. I can’t wait to explain to our daughter that they use a red pen for that. 😉 7:07AM Mar 31
• Brian 6am at the hospital on two hours sleep — surrounded by soda machines — is making me reconsider that whole “I’m giving up Diet Coke” thing. 7:23AM Mar 31
• Brian Wondering if I can live Twitter Niki giving birth to our girl today and make every tweet exactly one hundred and forty characters. Unlikely. 7:52AM Mar 31
• Brian Niki’s dictating a Twitter message for me to send from her Verizon Samsung phone. I am totally lost without my BlackBerry’s qwerty keyboard. 8:45AM Mar 31
• Niki Starting IV now. 8:57AM Mar 31
• Niki Makes sense. You can’t have ‘Liv’ without ‘iv’. 9:02AM Mar 31
• Niki Just broke my water. 9:21AM Mar 31
• Brian After the second Nirvana song came on Niki’s iPod (not my doing, I swear) Niki had me switch to all Jack Johnson. Now that’s birthing music. 9:23AM Mar 31
• Niki Nurse asked if I am organ donor. Very reassuring. 9:46AM Mar 31
• Niki @sarahgilbert, but I am soooo ready for me to have this baby. This is the longest preg so far…39.5 weeks. i am excited too, also nervous. 10:58PM Mar 30
• Niki I have a bad tummy ache. Can’t figure out if it is the v spicy Mexican food I had for dinner or a case of nervous jitters. Probably both! 11:01PM Mar 30
• Brian Waiting in the admission room while Niki gets her blood drawn. I can’t wait to explain to our daughter that they use a red pen for that. 😉 7:07AM Mar 31
• Brian 6am at the hospital on two hours sleep — surrounded by soda machines — is making me reconsider that whole “I’m giving up Diet Coke” thing. 7:23AM Mar 31
• Brian Wondering if I can live Twitter Niki giving birth to our girl today and make every tweet exactly one hundred and forty characters. Unlikely. 7:52AM Mar 31
• Brian Niki’s dictating a Twitter message for me to send from her Verizon Samsung phone. I am totally lost without my BlackBerry’s qwerty keyboard. 8:45AM Mar 31
• Niki Starting IV now. 8:57AM Mar 31
• Niki Makes sense. You can’t have ‘Liv’ without ‘iv’. 9:02AM Mar 31
• Niki Just broke my water. 9:21AM Mar 31
• Brian After the second Nirvana song came on Niki’s iPod (not my doing, I swear) Niki had me switch to all Jack Johnson. Now that’s birthing music. 9:23AM Mar 31
• Niki Nurse asked if I am organ donor. Very reassuring. 9:46AM Mar 31
• Niki Brian went 2 get breakfast ’cause I cant do this without food.’ sigh 10:02AM Mar 31
• Brian My daughter will have the same birthday as Al Gore, Christoper Walken and @zefrank. 10:13AM Mar 31
• Brian Every time they ask if Niki has had any contractions yet, I cannot help but think about Data from Star Trek TNG. It is sad but it is true… 10:19AM Mar 31
• Niki Contractions 4 min apart 12:02PM Mar 31
• Brian Contractions are 4 minutes apart. Niki is looking great, breathing through the pain. Now for an ultrasound. 12:09PM Mar 31
• Brian @cksthree Thanks! Be glad I’m not streaming live on Qik right now like @jasoncalacanis. 😉 12:52PM Mar 31
• Brian They gave Niki some pain meds. We were doing 2 minute contractions. Getting a quick sandwich while she’s out. 2:34PM Mar 31
• Niki 7 cm dilated. Meds are wearing off. 3:06PM Mar 31
• Brian I hate it when Niki’s in pain. 3:11PM Mar 31
• Brian Baby crowned as iPod played GNR’s Patience. 3:59PM Mar 31
• Brian We have a brown haired baby girl! Niki’s iPod welcomes her with the theme from The Greatest American Hero. 4:01PM Mar 31
• Brian Baby number three. 9 pounds. 19.5 inches. Niki is amazing. 4:30PM Mar 31
• Brian Since people are asking, no, I didn’t succumb to the siren song of Diet Coke. 5:11PM Mar 31
• Brian We got the same maternity room for Liv that we did for Jack in 2003. Wondering if it’s the same room @bradhill was in all those years ago… 6:41PM Mar 31
• Brian Listening to U2’s Beautiful Day. Heading home from a beautiful day in Bronxville. 10:35PM Mar 31
• Niki Liv is doing great. She already has daddy wrapped! 10:46PM Mar 31
• Niki She’s a natural at nursing. 4:38AM Apr 1
• Niki Liv looks just like her daddy – but with my hair. She’s so cute. 4:45AM Apr 1
• Niki My doctor just visited. I love him! 7:40AM Apr 1
• Niki I am IN love with my girl! 7:54AM Apr 1
• Niki Just changed the 1st of many poopy diapers. 9:43AM Apr 1
• Brian Tried to pull an April Fool’s Day prank on Liv this morning. She was all, “I wasn’t born yesterday, Daddy” and I was all, “Oh yes you were!” 12:48PM Apr 1
• Niki We emailed Liv’s birth stats to 113 people yesterday. Two wrote back that they were pregnant too, but it’s a secret! 4:43PM Apr 1
• Niki Colleen just emailed me and said “BTW, I am not pregnant, nor is that a secret :-)” — so that leaves 112 of you! 6:03PM Apr 1
• Niki Liv was just fussing and nothing I did soothed her. Daddy picked her up and she quieted right down. She adores her Daddy. 6:12PM Apr 1
• Niki @dorie93950, nope, not going home until tomorrow afternoon. Jack wanted me home last night though. Poor guy. 6:41PM Apr 1
• Niki @sarahgilbert, Yeah she is already Daddy’s girl. It is so sweet. He is totally wrapped! 6:42PM Apr 1
• Niki Baby pics are on my blog! 9:16PM Apr 1
• Niki One pregnancy was an April Fool’s joke, one wasn’t. 9:23PM Apr 1
• Brian Leaving the hospital with Niki and Liv now. 2:37PM Apr 2
• Brian Just got home with the new baby. Stopped by her future school and gave her brothers some food to eat while on the playground. Nice day out. 4:10PM Apr 2
• Niki We are home! Woo Hoo. 4:24PM Apr 2
• Niki Liv is a little jaundiced. Had to give her formula at the hospital today, doctor’s orders. She pooped and peed a bunch. Back to nursing now. 6:03PM Apr 2
• Brian Slept a few hours off and on — surely more than Niki. First day back in the office. Offline again tomorrow for our first peds doctor visit. 7:55AM Apr 3
• Niki @gavin, It IS all about the delivery :), oh wait, I don’t think we are talking about the same thing :). 1:24PM Apr 3
• Niki Liv admitted to hospital for severe jaundice. Drew labs started IV now in incubator under lights. 9:21PM Apr 4
• Brian Shawn Mullins is telling me “Everything’s gonna be all right, rockabye.” 9:24PM Apr 4
• Niki Liv just had blood taken. Her brothers fav song came on iPod – Monkey and engineer. Good sign. 1:33AM Apr 5
• Niki Been pumping, mixing with formula and feeding q2 hours under lights. Working – Liv’s bili down 4.5 pts. Woo hoo! So happy. 3:08AM Apr 5
• Brian Liv came home Wednesday and went back into the hospital with Niki for 3+ days for severe jaundice Friday evening. Girl keeps it interesting. 4:15AM Apr 5
• Niki Liv’s seems to be getting better. Bili results soon. Stopped IV fluids. 10:39AM Apr 5
• Niki Bili down 3 more! Docs happy. So is mama. 11:57AM Apr 5
• Brian Back from visiting Liv. She is getting better w/ every blood test. Niki watched SNL at the hospital while I watched at home. A virtual date. 1:04AM Apr 6
• Niki Liv is doing much better. Docs and nurses more calm, not as freaked. Mama better too. Bili dropped from 24 to 13. 5:46AM Apr 6
• Brian About to move around our two car seats to add our new baby seat. If we want to haul bags or more adults, we’ll need a double decker minivan. 10:01AM Apr 6
• Niki Turned off lights last night. Bili went up this am. Not going home. More tests. 12:10PM Apr 6
• Niki We are home. Bili went down a little bit, not as much as the night before but still down. Docs said she has probably stabilized. 3:36AM Apr 7
• Niki Follow up with pediatrician Monday afternoon. Boys happy we are home. Slept 4 hours in a row after only 5 hours in 60 hours. Heaven. 3:38AM Apr 7