Reimagining Pregnancy for a Textile Computing™ Future
Happy Mother's Day!
To celebrate Mother's Day, Myant is sharing an excerpt from “Pregnancy Futures Augmented with AI: The Experience of Natural Birthing for Women in the Next Century", a short fictional story by Shreeya Tyagi. Shreeya is a digital and materials technologist working on a project at Myant to help reenvision the experience of pregnancy in a connected textile future. Her project is entitled 'Pregnancy Reimagined'.
Excerpt from “Pregnancy Futures Augmented with AI: The Experience of Natural Birthing for Women in the Next Century"
by Shreeya Tyagi
I stepped into the initiation of labor, at least that is what the SKIIN AI, who I lovingly call Bubba said. Bubba is a virtual doula, a midwife, although nothing can replace my actual midwife, Lila, who stood by me through these nine months. I expect her to be here any moment. Bubba keeps her informed of my sequence of interrelated, hormonal, shifts that are the classical signs of initial labor. The finely integrated sensors in my SKIIN clothing are an interface between Bubba and me, that continuously links us to the surrounding world.
“No hurry here, just relax, take a bath.” Lila would say.
I feel my heart calming. Bubba helped prepare the personalized fluid with electrolytes adjusted to my body’s condition. I sipped some and felt my energy restore instantly. My seat adjusted to a posture that would ease my cervix. I breathed in deeply.
This would have been unheard of fifty years ago. My grandmother’s body had no memory of giving birth to my mother because she was under local anesthesia and several epidurals in order to undergo a caesarian section. We now face the repercussion of intervention- intensive labor, as a whole species. Over the last two centuries, our body has lost the instinct to birth naturally, resulting in increasing delineation and exclusion of empathy in society. We learn these skills as a newborn from our mother during birth. Healthcare is now encouraging natural birthing and centuries old midwifery practices. The focus is on the optimal physical, emotional and psychological well-being of mothers and their newborns. These practices have been augmented with artificial personal intelligence.
Bubba and Lila have made this journey meaningful to me; they have redefined what it is to be feminine, they have helped me understand the potential of the feminine form and mind. My meditation practice is going to hit a new level after Maya is born or this is what my electrophysiology indicates, and I am ready for it.
About 'Pregnancy Reimagined'
‘Pregnancy Reimagined’ is a Myant women’s health initiative. As a company committed to improving women’s health, Myant's Textile Computing™ platform aims to empower and inform expectant mothers by connecting them to their own health and the health of their fetus. Through our Textile Computing™ platform we would like to de-medicalize the experience of pregnancy and provide a supportive monitoring device in the hand of the expectant mother. The prenatal monitoring device would aim to connect the expectant mother to herself and her fetus' heath, facilitated through our proprietary biometric technology. We can collect data on maternal and fetal ECG, temperature, blood pressure, sweat sensing, oxygen levels and contractions and leverage it as a means to support maternal and fetal health, various birthing options, address postpartum depression, and understand customized nutrition and living spaces for pregnant women.
