Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Greiner and the six other girls in her child-development class at Deer Lakes High School plan to find out what pregnancy feels like without the real-life demands of being pregnant and ending their high school years as mothers.

They want to purchase two pregnancy simulators for the class and use them to feel a 30 pound weight gain, shallow breathing, higher body temperature, fetal movement and that urge to get to the restroom caused by bladder pressure.

“It’s very advanced, so we hope to learn a lot about how it feels to be pregnant,” says Greiner, a Deer Lakes freshman. “Right now, we have the baby simulators. It’s the only hands-on learning we have. Everything else is out of a book or a worksheet.”

Purchasing simulators is not in the school’s budget so the all-girl class, ranging from freshmen to seniors, created a fundraiser to purchase the $800 RealCare Pregnancy Profile Simulators they found when looking for a way to learn more about pregnancy.

“We have simulators, the babies they can take home,” says Maggy Weider, who teaches child development, a Family and Consumer Sciences class. “A student asked why we weren’t learning what it feels like to be pregnant. That led to a lot of discussions about getting a pregnancy simulator. They thought this would enrich the class.”

“We hope to spread the word about teen pregnancy, and personally learn how it feels,” Greiner says. “We hope to get two simulators to do activities as a pair. There are activities to do to compare how it feels.”

Greiner says since the simulators are expensive they would not wear them anywhere except during school to reduce chances of damage.

Weider says she and her students presented their idea to include the pregnancy simulators in their child-development education to the school’s vice principal and principal.

“They were for it,” Weider says, “but because it’s not in the budget, we have to raise the money. Depending on how much we raise, it will be one or two simulators at $800 each.”

The students decided to use their cooking skills and hold an All You Care to Eat Pancake Brunch fundraiser at the school’s cafeteria from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 25.

Weider says the simulator, which comes with a full curriculum, will help provide a more realistic viewpoint of pregnancy.

“The message I hope to send with this is to wait to become pregnant,” Weider says, “being emotionally mature to sacrifice your time and your dreams for the baby and what is best for the baby.

“They need to understand the physical demands and being emotionally ready,” she says. “There is increased risk of low birthweight and death with teen pregnancy. We’ve talked about do’s and don’ts of having a baby. This is part of learning child development.”

Debbie Black is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.

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