Dena Wood: Out and About

We had a weekend guest recently. This particular guest was loud, demanding and wreaked havoc on our weekend plans. Everything revolved around him. I'd been in favor of him staying with us but, frankly, I wasn't sad to see him go. Yes, we just finished up our weekend hosting "Baby Think It Over." One might consider it more accurate to say that my son finished up his weekend with the baby, but the babe affected us all. Babies are like that.

"Baby Think It Over" is an infant simulator aimed at providing teens with the experience of caring for an infant. The dolls are 20 inches long, weigh seven to eight pounds and are incredibly lifelike. An internal computer sets the doll crying at random intervals, 24 hours a day - just like the real thing. The caregiver - who wears a sensor ID bracelet - must scan the baby and then determine what the infant needs: feeding, burping, rocking or a diaper change. Every Waitsburg High School freshman - including my son Skylar - takes a baby home for the weekend as a health class re­quirement.

Waitsburg High School Family and Consumer Science Teacher Nancy Bickelhaupt has assigned her students babies for over twenty years. As a farmer's wife, Nancy made good use of her re­sources and created her first simulated babies out of bags of wheat. Local nurses Kathie Payne and Susie Kenney delivered the wheat babies to the classroom, where students celebrated their arrival with a baby shower.

In 1994 Bickelhaupt received a call from a cousin in San Diego who had seen an article about a man making baby simulators in his garage. After viewing a television program showing kids using flour sacks and eggs as babies Mary Jurmain chal­lenged her husband Rick - a former NASA engi­neer - to invent something better; something that would wake kids up at night. Rick accepted the challenge and went to work in his garage, where he developed "Baby Think It Over."

After learning of the simulators, Bickelhaupt applied for and received a grant allowing Waits­burg High School to purchase two dolls as part of a teen pregnancy prevention program.

"Those first dolls were pretty rudimentary," said Bickelhaupt. "They were basically store- bought dolls with the backs hollowed out and simulators inserted. They've come a long way since then." The new dolls are equipped with an all-important emergency shut-off. Bickelhaupt said she can remember visiting a student's house at 3 a.m. to turn off a malfunctioning doll.

When the dolls are returned, Bickelhaupt prints out a Student Report. The report shows how many times the baby received care and details proper and missed care. The sample report I looked at showed 95 responses by the student between 4 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Monday. The student missed a couple rocks and diaper changes (missed care), failed to support the head properly six times and held the baby in the wrong position one time (mishandling). The overall grade was a 94%.

Bickelhaupt's students must also spend one class period wearing an empathy belly. The belly is a pregnancy simulator that replicates the third trimester of pregnancy and is truly impressive. Not only does the jacket-like apparatus add 30 pounds of weight, but a rib constrictor causes shortness of breath while a water-filled pouch puts pressure on the wearer's bladder. A ball suspended in the main bladder of the vest even simulates fetal movement.

Bickelhaupt has students perform simple tasks like walking up and down the stairs and tying their shoes while wearing the vest. "Most of the kids are curious and really want to see what it's like. Even the boys aren't intimidated by trying it on," said Bickelhaupt. "The intent of the program is not to scare the kids. I want them to understand the responsibility required and that having a baby is a lifestyle change. Most students are not prepared for that."

So does it work? Sky's comment after his weekend as caregiver was, "This was WAY easier than a real baby!" However, one must consider the fact that he was homeschooled last year and we babysat my (adorable!) nephew from the time he was three months to one year old. Sky's had a good deal of experience with real babies. "It doesn't make messes and the diaper changes aren't very realistic," he said, referring to the simulator. Thank goodness for small favors.

That said, the baby -- my son insisted on call­ing it "he," even though it was dressed in pink and obviously a girl - definitely had an impact. Sky opted to stay home from church and forfeited his Sunday afternoon tradition of exploring the hills with friends. The baby was disruptive when the kids had friends over to watch a movie on Satur­day. Sky even opted to sleep on the floor with the baby because he felt his loft bed was unsafe and - being a heavy sleeper - he was afraid he wouldn't wake up when the infant cried.

"Yeah, I did miss out on a lot of stuff I normally do," he said. "It definitely tied me down."

He was so overprotective that no one in the household was allowed to hold the infant. He relented briefly, allowing me a quick cuddle while loudly directing me to, "HOLD ITS HEAD!" as he handed the baby over. (It's not like I've had five kids or anything. Sheesh.)

I guess his diligence paid off because his care printout gave him a grade of 99%. I just hope he's a bit mellower when it's time for the real thing. Dena Wood Photo