Mum’s labour video ‘to remind her not to have another baby!’
A WoMAN broadcast the hours leading up to the birth of her third child live on social media to an audience that built to more than 200,000 people.
Sarah- Jane Ljungstrom, 35, used Facebook to create a video stream covering the 24 hours after her waters broke at home.
over the course of her labour she posted five videos, including one of her live contractions, and provided updates as her baby ‘moved down the birth canal’.
Although viewers did not see the actual moment she gave birth in hospital, Mrs Ljungstrom revealed that she and husband Henrik had had a girl, weighing 8lb 1oz, named eveline in a video that was watched by 216,000 people.
The Ljungstroms have now brought eveline back to the family home in richmond, south
‘Don’t let me get pregnant again’
west London, to meet her brothers Freddie, six, and three-yearold Finn Barnaby Bo.
Mrs Ljungstrom joked with viewers that if she were ever to consider having another baby, they should show her the video of her labour.
She told parenting website Channel Mum: ‘ I’ve been vlogging [video blogging] about motherhood and my pregnancy this year so it was natural for me to do the same and share my labour.
‘I find being a mum so rewarding but it can be overwhelming and lonely. I was always looking for help and advice especially about the big things like labour and feeding that I was anxious about.
‘Stories from other real mums I could relate to helped me so much. So I decided to share my own to show a real everyday labour that other mums and pregnant woman could follow and see how it went.’
Mrs Ljungstorm, a director at an advertising agency, posted the first live video at 10pm on December 21. It was watched by 86,000 people.
Her next video, nearly two hours later, was posted from home after the hospital sent her back to wait until her contractions became stronger.
Viewers next watched as Mrs Ljungstorm had live contractions between sips of tea at 8.30am on December 22.
She said: ‘Sorry I’m having a contraction now. It’s not fun this bit, is it? Don’t let me get pregnant again. If I ever say I want another baby I can watch this back.’
After posting a short video on the way back to the hospital, Mrs Ljungstrom uploaded a final scene 12 hours later – after three hours of pushing – of eveline in her arms. She said: ‘of course she’s the most beautiful baby in the world.’
Speaking about her decision to broadcast her labour, Mrs Ljungstrom said that social media was a good way of being able to reach out to similar people for advice and that the encouragement of others had made her feel braver.
She said: ‘our social networks are amazing support networks – especially in the online motherhood world.
‘So I just felt I was chatting to a bunch of mums who all had my back and were giving me words of encouragement.
‘I got some great advice and read all of it. It felt like I had a whole village of women with me in spirit.’