Sometime my geek side and my Catholic side get to met. I just noticed a new app for the iPad called Hello Baby – Pregnancy Calendar done by P&G Productions for Pampers.
The app is rather cool in that as you click along the timeline you see the progress of the baby and you can enter your baby’s name and due date. You can also just swipe across the screen to move along the timeline. Clicking on the image brings up a zoomed in image. Clicking on the book icon brings up textual information on child development.
It is rather odd that the first time you run it there are two check boxes for agreements about the pictures used. Plus the app starts at 4 weeks not at conception. No doubt there is some political correctness involved in these decisions. Plus there is of course links to the Pampers web site, but regardless of the commercialization this is a fairly nice app that is being provided free and a useful tool for pregnant women. The app also hooks up with Facebook to share information on child development.
Regardless this application might just be a great tool to use in the pro-life cause. The iPad itself provides a good size screen and in combination with this app might be perfect for sidewalk counseling. This provides a good educational approach.
The thing is Planned Parenthood and NARAL can’t release a similar app. Trying to display a baby as just a “product of conception” or other euphemisms just don’t work together with actual medical images. The science of human development has always been a powerful part of the pro-life cause which is why the culture of death so hates women actually seeing their child on an ultrasound machine. Besides Planned Parenthood couldn’t have a Hello Baby app, more like Goodbye Baby for them.
10 comments
I bet it starts off at 4 weeks because that is when most moms figure out that they are pregnant.
This is cool. Is there any way that those of us without iPhones can see more of this app?
Nevermind. After a little bit of searching, I see that the answer is no. Thank you, anyway.
Thanks for the heads up regarding this ap!
Just wanted suggest a possible reason for the photos beginning only in week 4. In the medical world pregnancy is counted on a 40 week time-line. Week 1 begins with the first day of your last period. Conception does not occur (cannot occur) until late week 2 or week 3. Therefore, there is no conceived child present during weeks 1, 2, and probably 3.
Could this explain things?
Thanks
Agree with Alicia… I don’t think they’re trying to be PC. If it’s a pregnancy tracker, the vast majority of women won’t even know there is a pregnancy to track until they are past 4 weeks!
To be fair – It’s not that women are oblivious and only find out four weeks after they got pregnant that they are. Even women charting diligently or taking regular pregnancy tests can’t be sure they’re pregnant til a couple of days before “4 weeks” (All the dates are measured from last period, and therefore ca. 2 weeks post ovulation for the average case and a few days less than that post conception. In other words – they _weren’t_ pregnant more than half of that time.). Perhaps it would be reasonable to be able to run this thing in reverse, but most people are interested in what’s going on with their pregnancy at the moment.
Agree with alicia and Laura. That, and there’s the fact that while it’s human, ensouled, and deserving of rights, I don’t think a blastula is very cute.
Plus, the way the OBs calculate pregnancy (from date of last menstrual period, “LMP”) the date of conception is already week 2. It’s not possible to confirm a pregnancy until perhaps late in week 3 and especially with home kits not until week 4 or even slightly later.
I dunno, Matt, for a woman who is hoping and waiting for a positive pregnancy test, even a blastula picture would be– well, maybe not cute, but encouraging… 🙂
Planned Parenthood will probably challenge it with cartoon images–somehow combining the idea of “globs of tissue” with pictures of armed parasites.
Either that or they’d focus on “This is how fat you’ll be at 4 wks, 6, 8, etc. These are the stretch marks that will ruin your life..”
.I’d better stop. I’ll give ’em ideas.
Thanks for the app idea, though. Awesome! Now we just have to find high-tech sidewalk counselors..Hey, I’ll bet NYC would make great use of that idea. Imagine the Sisters of Life with Ipads? That would be cool!