Baby announcements go high-tech with video clips on website

At her computer in her Northern California home Mary Duncan slides the cursor over the "click here for video" icon, then clicks the mouse twice.

A picture box opens in the upper left-hand corner of the computer screen to show her son and his wife standing, holding their new baby.

"I would like to introduce Mason Thomas," daughter-in-law Renae Krug says from her Las Vegas hospital room. "He was born Aug. 4. Six pounds, 11 ounces. Mason's coming home today with brother Jake."

Duncan downloads the 10-second video clip, then e-mails it to friends and relatives. Within minutes they receive the clip of her grandson in their user file.

Such videos are becoming popular at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas.

Ever since brown-eyed Katona Marie, dressed in a pink bonnet and matching outfit, was filmed wriggling in her crib then posted on the website last month, 61 videos have been placed on the site.

"It's kind of a way that technology can bring the family closer together," Cyndi Speer, director of Women's Services at the hospital, said. "Today so many people live away from their extended families."

Mason Thomas, born on a Wednesday to Renae and Chris Krug, was recorded by the hospital staff that Friday. Within an hour, the video was posted on the hospital's website, and Grandma Mary was downloading it to send to friends.

The video is a plus, Krug said. Her mother-in-law, who "is crazy about her grandchildren," won't arrive in town for another week and a half. "We have a scanner so we could have done a photo, but the video is more interesting."

Having little Mason on the website has also been fun for their friends and family living throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Oregon.

When the hospital began the program, the server was overloaded with inquiries.

Judging by the pink and blue pastel icon at the top of its website, the videos are a source of pride for the hospital.

It began posting baby snapshots on its website two years. It's the first in the valley and one of the first in the nation to provide the video service. The website can be accessed through its address mountainview-hospital.com.

The service is free to parents. Between 50 percent and 75 percent take advantage of it.

The most common reason for those who choose not to is that they don't have friends who have a computer, Speer said. Then they think about it a little more and realize, "Oh! There's Aunt Jane in Minnesota who has a computer."

Relatives who don't have a computer at home can access the videos from a computer at a public library, she said.

People who plan ahead and have relatives out of town are really excited about it, she added. Family and friends can view the newborn via the Internet anywhere in the world.

The infants and parents are protected by using first names only.

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