A new survey of more than 1,000 pregnant women conducted by American Baby magazine and Good Books found that 51 percent of respondents planned to record the birth - as it takes place - through social media, with 42 percent planning to post regular Facebook status updates and 9 percent planning to tweet about the experience.
"I was surprised by the social networking data," says Myra Wick, co-medical editor of the "Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy" and a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist at the Mayo Clinic. "But we are starting to see people texting and other things while they're in labor."
American Baby executive editor Laura Kalehoff points out that many of the women surveyed haven't known an adult life without social networking.
"The millennial mom went through college with Facebook," Kalehoff says. "They're accustomed to communicating that way, and it feels very natural to share your pregnancy and labor with everyone."
The women surveyed ranged in age from 18 to 49, with the majority being 18 to 29.
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Wick says she has found that mobile devices rarely get in the way of her patients' ability to complete the task at hand.
