Baby Caroline Lockwood was welcomed to the world a week ago, andTuesday she was welcomed to the World Wide Web.
Via the Internet and streaming video and sound, her Wilmetteparents showed her off from Evanston Hospital to family and friends.
The hospital is the only one in Illinois and one of 40 nationwideto offer the free service, BabyPressConference.com, to maternitypatients. The first family to try it out there were Caroline and herparents, Brad and Julie, and her 5-year-old sister, Ellery.
Paying a virtual visit were Brad's family in Indianapolis andJulie's in Northwest Indiana, plus several friends in the Chicagoarea.
Occupying a chat room instead of a family room, they didn't haveto leave home to see and hear Caroline and family. Visitors to theonline open house also got to type in questions and comments.
About all they couldn't do was hold the baby. If they had, nodoubt they would have been lectured by Ellery, who's taking a"sibling class." Her mother told viewers, "She tells me, `Youshouldn't hold her head like that; you shouldn't burp her like that.You should be ashamed of yourself, Mommy.' "
BabyPressConference.com makes money by selling gifts such asflowers, balloons and teddy bears on the site. Parents put togetheran e-mail guest list, and those invited are given a password for thesession and free software to download it.
Lee Perlman, the site's CEO, said it will be in 200 hospitals bythe end of this year. "This is what the Internet was made for," hesaid.
The 20-minute chat session was preferable to "fielding 20 callswhen you get home," Julie Lockwood said. "And they're all the samequestions."
Brad Lockwood said the most delighted viewer was his mother, Patty"Nana" Kuhn, who previously had seen only one photo of Caroline-by e-mail, of course. "Even over the computer, I could feel her gushing,"he said.
Here's how some of it went:
Julie (holding baby up): "Here's her chicken legs."
Nana Kuhn (typing): "Don't call my baby a chicken. She isbeautiful. . . ."
Brad (removing pacifier): "Let's see if we can take this outwithout her crying. . . . Well, that's the end of that."
Julie: "Ellery wanted to be the primary diaper changer, until shegot to that first diaper."
Nana: "I'm with Ellery on the diaper thing."
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