Starting @taya.rae.iida
I got the idea for Taya's instagram from @laurenluyendyk and the account she created for her daughter @alessiluyendyk. I based my account largely on hers, as it was already made and her daughter is now a toddler. I loved that she created this account and gave people a place to see regular updates about her pregnancy without letting her personal account turn into a full pregnancy/baby account.
This was my goal in creating Taya's instagram. I wanted to have a space where I could post updates about Taya during pregnancy and beyond and feel like I can post as much about her as I want and it wouldn't overwhelm my normal feed. This way people who are interested can choose to follow and get all of those updates, and others can continue following my personal account and just received the more milestone updates. So far this has worked very well and it has been fun to see who chooses to follow her account and interact regularly.
I started this account at about 15 weeks pregnant. At this point we had taken the announcement photos and had posted those on our personal accounts. We also had gotten back the results for the NIPT test so we were able to do the gender reveal and post those on our accounts as well. With all of this I knew it was about the time that I wanted to reveal her name, so I started the account but did not advertise it yet, I simply wanted to get it started before the big announcement and have a little bit posted before then. I could have started it under the generic name "Baby Iida" or something along those lines, but I chose not to, knowing some people might see it early and not being concerned about that.
The first few photos I chose were the same as the ones I had posted on my personal account because not only were they favorites of mine and I wanted to have them on her account, but also no one was following this account yet so I was not worried about duplication. The first few posts were the announcement photos, gender reveal, and an ultrasound photo. With the ultrasound photo I was careful to crop off all of the information and just post the photo portion of her, in order to not give out medical information.
That's where the fun began! From here I got a super cute outfit and name sign and spent way to long taking a photo in order to post and reveal. I revealed her name and her instagram on my personal account and it all became real! I chose to make the account public so that anyone can follow and I think I will stick with that unless it becomes an issue. It has been so fun to see who chose to follow her and see the regular updates!
My goals for posting:
Post a Bumpdate Each Week- as close to the start of the week as possible so that the weekly changes regular and predictable
Post for Important Events- Christmas and birthdays and fun things like that, this allowed me to include more fun info and bring dad into photos
Post for Milestones- this one I haven't done as well on, but wanted to post for any of the firsts that I come across, like first kick or craving, etc.
When Taya is born these will adapt in order to fit that time and I cannot wait!