LaborDuty: Incident Response for Baby’s Arrival

Real-time operations, as described by PagerDuty, involve acknowledging, communicating, resolving, and learning from impactful events in real time, a concept the author humorously relates to the experience of childbirth. Recounting his own experience with preparing for the birth of his third child, the author details the unexpected challenge posed by false contractions shortly after relocating to a new area, which prompted him to utilize PagerDuty, the incident response software he sells, to automate and streamline the logistics of childbirth. By setting up a tailored PagerDuty instance named LaborDuty, he created a system to alert based on medical urgency, escalate responses if he was unavailable, update family and friends, and arrange childcare, all initiated by his wife through a simple phone call. Although the system was ultimately unused as the birth went smoothly, the author shares this innovative application of PagerDuty to offer peace of mind and practical solutions for expectant parents facing unpredictable timing during labor.