This is inspired by [up_on_cloud_nine]'s "Feeling Lousy Cafe", so thanks to her.
I would hope that towards the end of pregnancy, women get extra consideration due to the obvious visual signal. However, early pregnancy seems to be pretty hard, but nobody realises, so you don't get any beneficial treatment. Therefore, i think there should be a strap-on inflatable but lightweight "belly" substitute for early pregnancy, so you get treated better, but flexible on the inside so as not to restrict the baby's growth. It would also mean maternity wear could be worn for longer, making it relatively cheaper.
-- nineteenthly, Mar 25 2009

(?) Thanks to [Up_on_cloud_nine] Feeling_20Lousy_20Cafe
See my anno. [nineteenthly, Mar 25 2009]

Fake Pregnancy Bellies http://www.trixiepi...gnancy_bellies.html
[ldischler, Mar 25 2009]

Hand-held Someone_20Else_20Pregnancy_20Detector
[phundug, Mar 25 2009]

Another idea which deals with that problem Empathy_20implant
Though for men more than women. [nineteenthly, Mar 25 2009]

I think that the main reason to be not in favour of this idea as proposed is that the risk of miscarriage is at its highest in the first trimester, which is why you are counselled not to go about proclaiming that you are up the stick until you have reached 12 weeks and the quacks have checked that everything is as it should be. Advertising your pregantiness for the sake of a seat on the bus is perhaps a little misguided.

As an aside, I understand from the many women who I know who have been, at times, in the family way, that the first three months are indeed the hardest - the worry, the morning sickness, the bizarro shape changes in your body, the sore boobes u.s.w. - and the latter two trimesters are, once all the other stuff has calmed down, largely (I said largely) a case of humphing around extra weight.

EDIT: I see that nineteenthly has gone over this ground quite thoroughly on the Feeling Lousy Café idea. Och, still.
-- calum, Mar 25 2009


"I'm knocked up" T-Shirt ?
-- FlyingToaster, Mar 25 2009


21Q, my stomach had been stuffed for a number of years and the only special treatment I get is too be called a 'fat bugger' by the friends and colleagues. What I want is the inverse of this device (but not a girdle as that too Captain Kirk for me). Ninetheenthly you should eat more and exercise less then you will get the same beneficial treatement that I do.
-- eight_nine_tortoise, Mar 25 2009


[21_Quest], it would of course be possible just to wear a T-shirt with "Baby on board" written on it. This would inform the rational and conscious part of observant and considerate people's minds of the truth and it wouldn't be misleading. However, not every woman with a big belly is pregnant either, and people might embarrassingly assume they are. My aim here is the opposite of deceit. If someone looks pregnant, they may elicit an emotionally caring response which is still appropriate given that they actually are pregnant. I am as aware as you are that i may be walking on eggshells here, but many women i know say the early stage is worse than the middle.
Concerning the fake bellies, those are really good value, [ldischler]! The second model has messed up though - her jeans are too tight and it looks like her uterus is floating about somewhere near her small intestine. I don't think they'd be suitable for this role because i think they'd put pressure on the abdomen, which i'd be prepared to bet would make morning sickness and œsophageal reflux worse. Still, it's better than nothing - more an empathy bulge than a fake. Also, this isn't fake, it's a real pregnancy.
-- nineteenthly, Mar 25 2009


This reminds me of a scene I saw played out on a suburban train: Younger woman (standing): "Excuse me, do you think I could sit down, please? I'm two-and-a-half months pregnant"

Older woman (seated): "I've got an artificial leg"

Stalemate.

A game of Disability Top Trumps, anyone?

(No, I didn't give up my seat, because I didn't have one either)
-- coprocephalous, Mar 25 2009


i find that throwing up all over someone's shoes usually gets you a seat just fine. also, added attention when you feel miserable is hardly most people's idea of a good time. i cannot bun this suggestion unless the faux-front is filled with suitable snacks to keep the ravenous bugblatters of two-hour starvation at bay. y'know, granola, power bars, peanut butter cookies, fruit... stuff like that. that would actually make this a sensible suggestion, otherwise this is not my idea of a good time. also, people like to touch bellies and that is hardly conducive to staving off nausea. [i should just add here that even though i am rounding the bend on my third trimester people still inquire into my morning sickness pains. so thoughtful! :)]
-- k_sra, Mar 25 2009


Disability poker? Another idea. [Calum], that's a really good point. I can imagine someone stumbling out of bed the day after her miscarriage is confirmed to see the bulge draped over the chair. That's really poignant.
I think the difficulty of the last bit shouldn't be underestimated either, since you have not only the physical discomfort but also the anticipation of giving birth and dealing with the responsibilities of a new child.
[FlyingToaster], i think i was typing when you posted that, and as i said i think the T-shirt lacks the psychological oompfh.
[Eight_nine], i'm getting there: I'm on the border of being overweight, at eighty kilos and a height of one hundred and seventy-eight centimetres.
[Cloud_nine], i understand they can be quite accurate but don't see how they can cause swollen ankles or hæmorrhoids, and you know you can take 'em off without having a babby at the end. I have another idea which deals with that problem, though for men more than women. See the link.
-- nineteenthly, Mar 25 2009


Bun
in
the
oven
|
V
-- phoenix, Mar 25 2009


A single FAQ T-shirt then?
-- nineteenthly, Mar 25 2009


[ k_sra ], congratulations!

(please take following with grain of salt due to attempt at funny)

On the idea: If I were a woman I would not want special treatment during pregnancy untill I really phisically needed it and then I would bloody well demand it at the top of my voice before I would collapse crying (moodswing) on the now vacant seat. If people gave me special treatment of their own accord I would find that condescending and scream at them.
-- zeno, Mar 25 2009


Many an excluded middle truth value word is spoken in jest.
-- nineteenthly, Mar 25 2009


There is a problem in some places of women strapping on fake hollow "bellies" -- and then shoplifting items and sticking them inside.
-- phundug, Mar 26 2009


a fake belly is probably not a very close approximation to the real thing unless they also pump you full of 33% more blood, 2 lbs extra boobage and 9 lbs of additional body fat. oh, and reduce your bladder to a third of its size.
-- k_sra, Apr 03 2009


I utterly agree, [k_sra], and that's part of the point. There are a lot of difficulties in early pregnancy which are less obvious, and it would be better to fake the appearance of pregnancy in order to get preferential treatment, but this has to be done without adversely affecting the health of the mother or, possibly, the foetus, so a heavy bulge and the like is probably not advisable.
-- nineteenthly, Apr 03 2009



random, halfbakery