For the busy professional trying to get pregnant, a new service from the folks at BabyCenter is arguably the most disturbing reminder of not only how technologised pre-conception, pregnancy and birth have become but also provides me with great pleasure in not having succumbed to the powers of a Blackberry.
Called Booty Caller, using information about your ovulation cycle, the service texts you when the time is right to make babies (3 texts per menstrual cycle). Sample messages include:
• "Your fertile window starts in 1 week. Find out if your chances of getting pregnant are better in the morning."
• "Your fertile window opens today and lasts 5 more days. Stress can get in the way of conception so relax and get a massage, meditate, or take a yoga class."
• "Today is your last fertile day! If you get pregnant during this cycle, your due date will be on or around 6.25.2009.”
Hmm, while the service ostensibly is providing 'helpful advice', it's hard not to think that such a service also serves as a pretty horrible reminder that if you don't get pregnant by the last text message, you have 'failed' at your mission.
Forget about 'Today is your last fertile day', why not just say 'You're 41. Are you kidding yourself?'
Besides, couples trying to get pregnant often complain that sex becomes like a chore when baby-making becomes the single-minded obsession of a woman who can hear her 'biological clock' ticking in the background. It's bad enough that most surveys say that sex dries up in many marriages without the added burden of trying to get pregnant. Why add a text message to an already stressful situation?
Sources:
http://www.babycenter.com/ovulation-mobile-alerts
http://gizmodo.com/5105359/the-booty-caller-texts-you-when-to-make-babies
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008579446_textappeal01.html
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