BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It's the latest in birth announcements -- babies in cyberspace. Two Cincinnati hospitals are giving new parents the option of posting their newborn's photo on a Web site for free or paying $25 to send a video-greeting birth announcement on the Internet.
"These are both pilot projects," says Lisa Doxsee, Health Alliance spokeswoman. "We're looking at how these work and then deciding whether to expand it to other alliance hospitals in the future."
"Web Babies" at Jewish Hospital's Family Birthing Center in Kenwood involves a FirstFoto baby picture being posted for free on the alliance's Web site - http://www.health-alliance.com - with the baby's and parents' first names (to protect privacy), weight, length and birth date. Photos remain on the site for two months.
At Christ Hospital, a VisualNet Communications project allows parents to send 20-second full-motion and sound "video birth announcements" from the hospital room to family and friends as an Internet e-mail ("Hi, Mom! Here's your new granddaughter!") Each video message has a protected password so only intended recipients can download the message about an hour after it's recorded ($25 prepaid, $30 at the hospital).
