"I Put My Birth Video on YouTube"

Another Mom's Story

"I live-steamed my birth, but I won't do it again."

I originally joined momslikeme.com to get a recommendation for a midwife. But when I saw they were looking for someone to take videos of her pregnancy and birth, I volunteered. My husband and I thought that sharing would help calm women's fears about the pain of labor.

Last October, thousands of viewers watched me give birth, live, on ustream.com. The three-person video crew that had followed me since the start of my pregnancy taped it, and I was very comfortable with them. Afterward, there were tons of responses to what I did, and many commenters criticized me for going too far. Come on, I thought, I showed a lot less than the women on TLC's A Baby Story!

Giving birth over the Internet was a great experience...once. I'm glad to have shared the joy of birth with so many other people. But the next time I have a baby, I'd like it to be more low-key and intimate, without the lights and the camera -- just my husband, my mom, and me.

-Lynsee M.

Originally published in the September 2010 issue of American Baby magazine.