There have been many times that, in frustration, I have said to my husband:
If only you could experience being pregnant for one day, you would get it!
I honestly can’t imagine a man undergoing everything that us ladies go through — the periods and the monthly cramps, cravings, and bloating; the very real physical and mental hardships of pregnancy (it’s a scary thing to realize that you’re locked in with nowhere to go for those nine months!); and oh my gosh, the labor and delivery. I mean, really.
And while my husband may never get to experience the joys of womanhood like I would love him to, there is a new piece of technology that is hoping to help connect fathers more to their partners’ experiences during pregnancy. The device is called Fibo and it’s a wearable band that lets fathers feel a sensation caused by four tiny beads in the bracelet whenever their unborn baby kicks in the mother. Pretty cool, right?
The founders designed the beads to turn in conjunction with the baby’s movement and press into the wrist with kicks, to give it the most authentic possible feel. To work properly, the mother has to also wear a monitor that will transmit the movements to the father’s band; however, it is supposed to work no matter where the father is, allowing him to be at work and feel his baby kicking wherever he is.
According to Fibo’s founders, the bracelet was inspired by real-life feedback from dads who want to be more involved with their partners’ pregnancy. And although my definition of being more “involved” probably looks more like back rubs and ice cream runs, these dads were looking for something a little more exciting for them too.
They surveyed many young, pregnant couples and found that dads cited feeling very connected to their babies when they first heard the heartbeat and noted that they wanted that surge of excitement and love to last even longer. Enter the Fibo. Also a selling point? It totally makes parenthood cool. “This looks like something James Bond would wear!” gushes one excited father on the website. Er, um, totally. It’s not a far fetched assumption that Bond, James Bond, probably has a kid or fifty out there now that I think about it.
Apparently, the band also stores the baby’s movements as data that can be transferred into pieces of jewelry after the baby’s birth too, allowing the whole family to enjoy “baby’s first design.”
The super cool dad band is still in development and no word on when it will be released or how much it will cost, but I think the most important question we all burning to ask is — but when will it let the dad feel what it’s like to be high-kicked in the bladder?
I might just pay extra for that feature.