The arrival of her child, already known to be a boy and named Harvey after her grandfather, is scheduled for May 16. But the technical countdown to one of the most astonishing media events ever seen has already started.
The main ‘feed' of live video footage will go out on the internet. Some of the coverage will be free to watch, though key moments including the birth itself could be pay-per-view like big pop concerts and sporting events.
There will be a further ‘edited-highlights' video package available for fans who prefer not to sit though a long labour or who might miss the birth if it takes place in the early hours.
Jordan, 23, is also negotiating possible TV coverage. Her preferred company is Endemol, the force behind Channel 4's Big Brother. Their expertise at linking TV and live internet broadcasts has made them the world's most successful reality-TV creators.
Jordan's advisers anticipate the birth will be one of the biggest internet events ever seen, with a hoped-for ONE BILLION hits on her website. Besides her huge fan base in the UK, Jordan, real name Katie Price, has a large following in Australia and the US.
She told a friend: "Giving birth is the most beautiful and natural thing that any woman can do. I'd love my millions of fans around the world to share my joy.
"In the right hands, this could one of the media sensations of the decade. I've always been talked about for my looks and my big boobs but after this I think people will also remember me as the girl who shared the birth of her baby with the world."
Dave Read, of Neon PR, the company brokering the deal for Jordan, told the News of the World: "This is the most challenging project Jordan and I have worked on and I want make sure it's handled properly and responsibly. We don't want some tacky media circus.
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| FIXED point cameras on the walls and ceilings will take wide-angle shots while two cameramen with mobile video units will film close-ups. Like the medical staff, the film crew will be thoroughly scrubbed and 'gowned up' |
"Millions of women around the world give birth every day and Jordan hopes the live internet broadcast will be educational too—that it will take some of the fear out of childbirth.
"We hope to get a renowned doctor on board to help with the commentary.
"Jordan's pregnancy has gone very, very smoothly so far but she is keen to press ahead with filming even if she's in labour for 17 hours or the baby has to be induced or delivered by caesarean. She wants the public to see exactly what happens, warts and all.
"The live broadcast of the actual birth will be the climax of a series of web events which we think millions of women, let alone the masses of male Jordan fans, will want to be a part of.
"Jordan isn't in the least bit ashamed of her involvement in this event. In fact she's proud of it."
Best pal, make-up artist Sally Cairn, is expected join Jordan at the delivery. And while the child's father, Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, has also been invited to attend he is not expected to turn up.
Jordan hopes to give birth at a hospital near her new £360,000 village farmhouse just outside Brighton. But the exact location will depend on the constraints of technical filming issues.
Nick English, boss of London-based VirtueTV which ran the world's largest web event so far—Madonna's live concert on MSN.com—explained that a filmcrew of 11 would be needed.
This would comprise: one producer; one director; one technical advisor; two mobile cameramen; one mixing desk operator to blend the images into a seamless video; one sound engineer; one lighting technician; and three further technical experts monitoring the load at the computer HQ serving the website. Mr English explained: "You will need at least three but maybe as many as seven cameras trained on the event from different angles, some static, some mobile. All would be wired to a video mixing desk in a dedicated studio in an adjoining room."
Along with the camera crew there would typically be three doctors, one of them an anaesthetist, two midwives and a nurse.
Though Jordan will be the first Brit to screen her child's arrival, the world's first on-line delivery took place on June 16, 1998, when a 40-year-old woman, identified only as a Elizabeth, gave birth to baby Sean in Orlando, Florida. The website registered 10 million hits during the day.
The event was part-sponsored by a supermarket chain.
In July 2000, mum Rie Refslund gave birth to a daughter live on her family's internet site in Denmark. And on February 6 last year, US TV show Good Morning America broadcast five live births from three hospitals.
The first birth shown on British TV, though not a live transmission, was on BBC1 in 1957—preceded by a warning to the public. Reports at the time said it was "revolting and tasteless".
Fear
No live birth has so far been screened on British TV, though several documentaries have followed the progress from conception to delivery.
Dr Desmond Morris's six-part series The Human Animal has been the most revealing, using a camera inserted into a woman's body to film an orgasm.
Dave Read added: "I'm sure people will portray Jordan's event as some kind of sleazy stunt. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jordan believes that the birth of a child is the single most amazing thing that can happen to any woman. The effect the pregnancy has already had on her is profound and she knows the arrival of her first child will change her life for ever-and most definitely for the better."
Documentaries such as The Naked Ape and, more recently, Making Babies and The Human Body with Robert Winston also fascinated her.
Professor Stuart Stanton, of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at London's St George's Hospital, said he was in favour of the Jordan pregnancy webcast.
"As long as it is not sensationalised, I think it's a good thing," he added. "She could help take a lot of the fear out of childbirth.
"And if a well-respected doctor was used for the commentary, it could be used to get a lot of very positive messages across."
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