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CANBERRA - Bubba Waring has not even been born yet and he, or she, has its own web space with cyber "friends" clamouring to get acquainted.
Australian couple Claire Gillis and Luke Waring, who are expecting their first child in three months, decided to set up a page on internet social meeting site Facebook to keep friends up to date on the developing baby's progress.
"We have friends and family all over the world, so we're using it for them, to post updates on ultrasounds, scans and what it has been doing all week, so that's how it started," Gillis told Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
The grainy black-and-white ultrasound image of "Bubba Waring" has 29 friends listed, with dozens more waiting to be accepted by "the world's most famous foetus", Gillis said.
"I'm considering whether I should just open it up to the public because I'm just receiving the most ridiculous number of emails and friend requests," she said.
But the image gives nothing away about the most crucial question - whether Bubba is a boy or a girl - with most friends tipping a boy based on a fuzzy photo and internet profile page.
"We're not going to find out its gender, so it'll be a surprise to everybody when the baby is born," Gillis said.
- REUTERS