My husband is not a writer; in fact, he has one of the worst memory banks I’ve ever known for someone in his age bracket. But he IS a tweeter. And his live-tweeting of both of my births has been the sweetest thing for three reasons:

1.) It’s his birth story.

He would never, ever sit down and type out a birth story the way I (and many mothers) would. But I can print out his tweets from that fateful day and paste it into a baby book just the same, and there is our birth story, through his eyes and in his words.

2.) It kept our distant loved ones connected.

We live far away from lots of family. Even the family that lives nearby wasn’t allowed to be in the delivery room with me, so this was my husband’s way of keeping them all in the loop. His grandmother, who is housebound but uses Facebook like a pro, felt like she was in on all the action, and we loved that she could be a part of it.

3.) It literally got me through the toughest part of my labor.

I was 5cm into my second birth, striving for a natural VBAC, but feeling like I wasn’t going to make it through one more contraction without an epidural. The nurses kept moving me around into uncomfortable positions to help with the baby’s decelerating heartbeat (deja vu from my first birth which ended in an emergency c-section), and I was about to throw in the towel. But my husband sent out a tweet asking for words of encouragement from my friends and family. I sat in the shower with the hot water on my shivering legs and he read me their responses. And though it was just the two of us in there, all of a sudden, I had my best friends, my sisters in law, my mom, my doula from my first birth and so many others sitting right there with me, cheering me on, telling me to just get through the next contraction. And it got me through that terrible halfway point. Once I was past that bleak spot, I knew that I could make it the rest of the centimeters, naturally.

Some women would obviously not want too much information out there, and I get that. Others would not like the disconnection of their partner whenever he does go into the world of social media; I get that too. But the trade off was really good for me, and I wanted to share it with you.

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Well folks, we're preparing for what we are hoping is the real thing. Contractions are getting a little more consistent. #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

Heading to the hospital. Things are progressing right along. #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

Before birth selfie. #babymicah2015 We are pretty much the only people in labor and delivery, which… https://t.co/1LOaQ30C8j — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

^^I don’t know what I was looking at here. But I had been through three days of early labor already at this point, so I’m just glad my eyes were open. #sleepdeprived

This beautiful woman is ready to deliver! Essentials in hand. #babymicah2015 @ Memorial Herman Northeast https://t.co/xLU6oeO2W2 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

It was an awkward thing to lug into the hospital, but that birthing ball was the BEST place to sit during contractions.

Men, word of advice: If your wife is having labor pains, silence is probably best. :) #learnedthehardway #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

More advice: Just try to be one step ahead, that is until she yells at you to stop be an idiot. #kidding #butseriously #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

^^I never called him an idiot–for the record.

In the room @kateskero is comfortable, labor pain 5-10 mins a part. Baby has a strong heart beat. ❤️👶🏼#babymicah2015 pic.twitter.com/KPj1G5QuNp — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

^^Like my gown? I totally recommend bringing your own gown to the hospital. That way, you know it’s clean, it covers all of your body parts while you go on a labor walk, and they are designed for easy nursing and skin-to-skin time.

"Topping the charts with some of these bad boys" says @kateskero regarding her labor chart. pic.twitter.com/aEHU8qEQBv — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

.@kateskero is still having consistent labor pains. Doc will break water around 9am, so things will move quicker after that. #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

Everything is going well so far. Had to switch rooms because the old room had a water leak somewhere? #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

^^And no, the water leak problem was not related to my breaking water. :P

^^Don’t judge. I love Settlers of Catan.

.@kateskero is at a tough spot in the labor, if you have words of encouragement for Kate that I can pass on to her, shoot. #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

Wanna know how tough a woman is? Hold her hand through a contraction. #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

Doc said @kateskero is doing great, we're hoping we get to see the little man in the next 3 hrs or so. Almost there! #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

Aaaaaannnnd 8cm it is. Gonna start pushing soon. #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 10, 2015

I naturally VBACed that 9 pound baby. Let’s not talk about how hard that recovery was.

Thank you everyone for the love and support today! @kateskero and I are blessed beyond measure. #babymicah2015 — ⛷ROW (@skero) April 11, 2015

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