Vivian Manning-Schaffel: "If YouTube can illustrate how to solve a Rubik's Cube, pick a lock and poach an egg, it can also demonstrate how to give birth."

Or so says this article by Malia Wollan in the Fashion & Style section of The New York Times, where 35-year-old preggo Rebecca Sloan got the real deal on childbirth by watching YouTube birthing videos from the likes of 32-year-old Sarah Griffith, who posted her son's birth in nine graphically real installments.

Wollan reports, "Mom-and-pop directors like Ms. Griffith think of their home movies as a way to demystify childbirth by showing other women -- and their weak-kneed husbands -- candid images they might not otherwise see until their contractions begin."

Word! Why shell out $300 for a Lamaze class, when you can watch childbirth for free, with popcorn, in the comfort of your own home and in easy proximity to a private toilet, should the queasies take hold?

Sh*t, when I was knocked up, I used to just obsess over "A Baby Story" on TLC. The great thing about that show is that it was only mildly graphic, avoiding "money" shots in favor of the delicately lit winces of women on the cusp of parenthood.

Personally, I think it's great that those with exhibitionist tendencies have a ready venue for the grand debut of their children. But if I were pregnant today, I don't know if I'd tune in. It's both a blessing and a curse to know what's in store on that ride. Both times I gave birth, I commandeered my husband to remain as far from that al fresco situation as possible, but not out of modesty. From the not-so-delicate wince on my face, he got a clear depiction of just what was going on down there.

Vivian Manning-Schaffel has written for Babble, Parenting, The Advocate, The New York Post, Business Week and a variety of other publications and lives and works in the heart of breeder Brooklyn with her husband and two kids. She authors two pop culture blogs: The Mad Mom and A Hag Supreme, and is on the web at vivianmanningschaffel.com.