On Friday Dec. 6 senior Micheal Sahotsky got to feel what being pregnant was like by wearing the 35lb empathy belly simulator throughout his day. This was the result of an ongoing joke between Sahotsky and agriculture teacher Melissa Miller. 

“It was kind of my idea. Micheal likes to joke with me about being pregnant. For example, how much harder it is for me to do simple tasks. So, I said I was going to make him wear a watermelon for a day. Mrs. Daubner caught wind of this and presented us with the option to borrow her sympathy belly,” Miller said.

The empathy belly simulator is a prosthetic belly that mimics what it would be like to be pregnant.

“There is a bladder that is filled with warm water to simulate the size of a 9 month pregnant belly and the warmth that goes along with it, and there is a rib belt that I forgot to use with Micheal that simulates the pressure a pregnant woman feels of the ascending uterus and fetus against the diaphragm, heart, and lungs. Two lead balls simulate fetal limbs poking into your organs (7 lbs. each). The bladder pouch simulates the fetal head on the bladder,” family and consumer science teacher Missy Daubner said.

Sahotsky wore the belly all throughout the school day and got to experience the pros and cons of being pregnant and how difficult it is to do small tasks.

“In my shop classes I couldn’t do work in a safe manner because of the belly being in the way. In my gym class it was difficult to play sports with the belly on as it was hard to move and my center of gravity was off,” Sahotsky said. 

By wearing the empathy belly it significantly increases someone’s understanding and sensitivity about the pregnant condition. 

“I thought it was very fun to have him be able to relate to just a little bit of what I’ve been going through. It was also fun to hear all the questions other students would ask Micheal. It overall was a great conversation piece and tool to use,” Miller said.