This has been a very interesting pregnancy in that my experience of it has been more public. When I was pregnant with my first child, I had a share site that I only used for family. While it was also a personal pregnancy journal, one could only access it by a password.
At the time, I didn’t realize that my share site would inspire me and prepare me for my blogging career. The share site morphed into two other blogs when my son was born. Then, one year later, I merged the two blogs and Charlene Chronicles came about. Thus, from one pregnancy to another, my potential baby-bump-musing-reach went from 8 people to over 5000 people (with Twitter, subscribers and fans combined.)
So when I found out about baby number two, I had to ask myself the question: How much do I publicly want to share about my second pregnancy?
Fellow pregnant bloggers have posted online weekly updates with photos, status updated details of their pregnancies and tweeted private musings. Yet for me, it was a fine line that I wanted to walk. I wanted to share what I was going through, as that is the heart of this blog, but having pictures and personal details permantely on the internet wasn’t something I wanted either. After some reflection, I decided to share some things with the world and keep other things close to home.
While I didn’t share our struggles, I did post data. While I didn’t share weekly pregnancy updates, I did have a baby gender reveal twitter party. While I didn’t tweet every time I went to the doctor, I did write about some challenges of pregnancy. It has been a very interesting experience and I hope that the decisions I have made on a case-by-case basis, will be positive online memories for my daughter…and for me.
All in all, it would be easier to be a Blogger that posts about my children all the time or none of the time. But that would not be authentic for me. So each time I open my blog to post, I ask myself these questions:
- Do I want this to be something my child’s employer will find on the internet 20 years from now?
- Do I want this to be something my future employer will find on the internet a week from now?
- Is this something I want my own family to know, let alone a stranger?
- Is there a benefit to the post – for me or for someone who may read this?
Whether you are a Blogger, or just a Mom or Dad, deciding what to share online is one of new roles of being a parent that our own parents didn’t have to go through. Yet regardless of what you decide, capturing memories is important to remember the early days of our children’s lives. This was something I suggested when I was interviewed on a local TV station recently. Write things down during your pregnancy so you have great early memories and keep the momentum going after they are born. At a minimum, get a good baby memory book and keep it in the kitchen, family room or your bedroom (so it is easy to keep updated as your child grows, and they grow fast!) So even if you don’t post online, you will have a great history of the first few years of their lives.
Even though I’m a blogger, I still find having paper and a pen to be a great way to capture these memories. So while I may not share it online, I have my thoughts. It won’t be stolen, or deleted, or won’t be lost if the internet went out of business tomorrow. (Especially if I store the memory book in a safe like my parents did for me.)
Whether you are having your first baby or fifth, I’d like to thank Hallmark for their great selection of baby memory books and products. They have thought of everything a parent may want to remember and it is customizable for the various ‘non-traditional’ parenting roles and the various ways some of us have come by being a parent. And they have given me a memory book to giveaway (your choice of boy, girl or neutral), along with an adorable teddy bear where you can record your voice in a song to share with your baby. (I teared up when I saw mine.)
So enter using the Rafflecopter form and may you have wonderful memories to share.
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Many thanks to Hallmark for providing me with a memory book for my two children and an adorable recordable bear too. But most of all, for being a company that helps us to be parents.
i have a private shutterfly site that i keep updated for out of state family (which is now all of our family) plus i back up all of my pictures on an external hard drive
I keep all that info private~
wonderful giveaway girl! i won’t enter since i’ve got 4 kids and i’m not sure who’s feelings i’d be hurting by giving the teddy to one of them.
it is a fine line we walk when it comes to how much we want to share. i guess it’s also based on our personalities and what we have to share. wonderful thought provoking post.
i keep the people i share it to minimal.
I share news about my family via facebook….With pics and status updates….Im very picky who I have shared with though 😀
i dont share at all to many pervs out there
For me, I kept most of the details private and offline. I love talking about pregnancy, birth and child-rearing, though, so I carry on a lot of active conversations about all of it! I either just do it through email or phone with friends, or I post on different forums under a non-identifying username. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I am pretty cautious about sharing too much with strangers.
I agree that you have to walk a fine line when you are a mommy blogger and include info about your kids, even if they are too young to read. That being said, it is also fun for them to read about themselves (especially if in a disguised way).
The challenge of babies #2 or more is keeping their baby book up to date. It is whole new ball game to have two or more plus a job plus little sleep. But, you HAVE to do it because it wouldn’t be fair otherwise. Keep it handy to jot down info when you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just filled out!
I have a private photobucket account through which I share pictures and videos with my family and friends.
I don’t really share that much, I post on a pregnancy board but that is about it.
I post things on Facebook but i make sure its private so only my family/friends are able to see it 🙂
Thank you!
If I don’t want someone to know whatever I write about regarding my life and family, I don’t give them access to my Facebook.
Anything I put online is password protected, but I don’t put that much on to begin with.
I’ve not shared too much about my pregnancy, except how far along. I guess if something dire happend I’d want to reach out to my support (friends and family) online–it’s the main way we communicate. Don’t know if I’ll tell the whole birth story, though if it is interesting I’ll probably write a blog.
I just don’t
I don’t share it.
I have a private blog where I share pics of my family and stories about us, but nothing ultra personal as my husband is super private. I have a public blog that I rarely share info on my family on and it doesn’t have any pictures or our names.
On occasion I will write things down in a notebook, otherwise, I just talk about it with my doula and friends!
My husband is very safe when it comes to sharing info on the net. I hardly post pics to Facebook let alone my blog. We actually agreed to keep my family out of my blog. No names and no pictures. Just the nicknames I call them. No last names. He’s is in the computer business per se and he knows how easy things get stolen and used for the wrong purpose. So I said ok. I don’t use my blog to be too personal so it’s ok. I was a little unsure at first. I felt restricted, but it has worked out just fine. I can still share stories and whatnot just not specifically. Sometimes I feel like today’s world is so in your face and not at all private. I love birth stories and breastfeeding, but will be the last person to show during labor pictures on FB or my breast in my baby’s mouth. That’s just me, though.
I keep everything on social networking sites on private, and I do not post anything else that is private online.
I actually have a Shutterfly account that I started when my daughter was born. Three years later we still use it, only family and friends can see it.
I announced the pregnancy of my first but not my second. i kept it a secret until I was in the hospital and she was in my arms.
I’m pretty out there with my family. I share pics, news, ect online, but nothing that I wouldn’t tell a stranger on the street.
I wish I could do that but I am so huge it is just too obvious!
My facebook page is set to private so only the people I approve see the information.
I don’t share. Don’t trust anything on computer to be private.
I don’t share personal information about the kids online
I just steer away from sharing stuff I wouldn’t want other people to know!
I share news about my family via facebook
Trying to keep it on the down low for now, because we are TTC, just now. Shh. 😀
Diana C
I keep a private shutterfly account, and occasionally a blog. 🙂
My husband and I share as little information as possible about our children online. I have no problems posting my pregnancy status (something like we’re expecting!) via Facebook or the gender(it’s a girl!) but I do not put the full name, share pictures, or any other information. Also friends and family members are forbidden from sharing full names, pictures, etc of our children. They don’t even mention them online. If someone wants that information they likely already have it through a mailed birth announcement or email, if someone isn’t close enough to you to feel comfortable asking for those things then in my opinion they are not a person who needs to be in the know!
I keep my personal stuff private
I try to post information under a username rather than my full name. I also mainly post information that may be helpful to others, such as answering questions.
The last time I was pregnant, I hadn’t started my personal blog yet (almost 5 years ago). But I started my large health care organization’s first blog – & it was called “Kate’s Having a Baby!” My OB/GYN would write posts & answer reader questions too. It was very patient-focused. So typically I would only write about a brief experience of my own pregnancy and then spin it in a way that I knew many women would be able to relate to. It was somewhat personal, but also very high level. I’m not sure how I would handle it the next time around on my own blog. I’d like to think I would be equally guarded about most details. I think you did a really good job finding that balance.
I share mostly on facebook with family and am also in a group on facebook for expectant mothers!
i share with family and friends through facebook and email
I keep it all private. I definitely do not share it online.
I find this very hard, I am originally from England and my family all still live there so I need to share pictures, etc online but I am not a fan.
I share it on facebook but I have strict privacy settings!
My children are grown now so I wasnt on the internet in the 80’s early 90’s. when I was pregnant but my daughter kept her’s private.
I do it in a very low key way and I don’t use their real names only nicknames
I share everything! I just don’t use real names 🙂
Mostly on facebook
I have a Shutterfly account that I share with close family and friends. I don’t like to put too much personal info on the net for everyone to see.
I share pictures with my family and also special moments that I wish they could share with me in person.
I post a few pictures on facebook, but mostly try to keep it offline and private.
I don’t share too much personal on the internet