Deer Lakes students to simulate pregnancy

Lizzie Cristillo, 17, of West Deer is old enough to recall bits and pieces of her mom’s pregnancies with five younger siblings.

“I can remember her complaining sometimes about this or that and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, Mom, whatever,’ ’’ Lizzie recounted.

Soon, the Deer Lakes High School senior will be able to identify with what her mother, Kelly, went through as a pregnant woman if Lizzie and a half-dozen other students raise enough money to purchase a vest they will wear to reshape their bodies to reflect that of a pregnant woman. The vest also fluctuates in temperature and simulates fetal movement.

Toward that end, the seven students — all female — in Maggy May Weider’s child development class and some of their friends will cook, serve and clean up after an all-you-can-eat pancake meal that runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the high school cafeteria.

They’re hoping the proceeds will cover the purchase of at least one

$800 pregnancy simulation vest.

“I think it will be interesting to feel what it feels like to be pregnant without actually being pregnant,” said Lizzie, who intends to be a teacher and also hopes to raise a family.

Ms. Weider, who works at the middle and high schools teaching family and consumer sciences, food preparation and child development, said the child development class covers conception to school age. One of the classroom tools is an infant simulator — a high-tech baby doll that helps the students experience the trials of caring for a newborn.

The idea to purchase a pregnancy-simulating vest came about midway through the school year when Ms. Weider was referencing the catalog with the infant simulator and its accouterments.

“Part of the class [curriculum] is the discussion about planning to be a parent versus accidentally getting pregnant,” she said. Making the plan involves being informed, she said, noting that the vest offered the prospect of making the book lessons tangible.

And the students were immediately intrigued.

“[The vest] is another way for the students to experience what they’re learning about — a hands-on experience they couldn’t otherwise have,” Ms. Weider said.

There was no money in the budget for such a purchase, however. So the students agreed to fundraise for it. A decision was made to tap into some skills the students had learned in early “home ec” classes and put on a pancake breakfast/ brunch.

The goal is to purchase two vests, but that depends on how many people show up for the breakfast.

Tickets at the door are $8. Children under age 3 eat free. Tickets purchased in advance are $6 and can be obtained by emailing Ms. Weider at mweider@ or by calling 724-265-5300, ext. 2112. The menu will include regular and chocolate chip pancakes, syrup and butter, orange juice, coffee, tea and water.

Chelsea Henline, 18, of West Deer, also a senior, said she’s anxious to strap on the vest, even though she anticipates that “it’s going to be weird, and I think it’s going to really open my eyes to what is really like to be pregnant, even if it’s for just a day or a weekend.”

She said she likes the idea of fundraising for a project that will benefit students even after she graduates. “This will be used for years and years,” she said.

Ms. Weider said she hopes it will be interesting and sobering for her current and future students to strap on the vest and encounter a bit of what it’s like to be pregnant.

“We see [the vest] as a potential deterrent [to an unplanned teen pregnancy,]” Ms. Weider said. Combined with a crying simulated infant, a weighty pregnancy vest that simulates eight months of gestation could be an inducement to a teenager to just say no.