OK here's an update for those of you thinking of buying one of these. The first thing to say is wow!!! This thing is heavy at over 17lb/7900g - and I think the weight is really important actually to giving a sense of carrying a baby. The good news is that the belly does in fact stay up on its own elastic velcro strap around the waist. Size-wise I think it's actually bang on for a woman's full term 9 month tummy - if I put this on my wife she would look absolutely ready to drop. On me it still looks good and realistic but it certainly isn't as enormous as some of the punch balloon bellies I have had!!
Where it scores over punch balloons though is in the shape which is just perfect! There;s a real feeling of it being part of you which I never had with the punch balloons or other padding and I love the texture and feel of it especially when it warms up against your skin. I'd say it's got a very firm feel, perhaps a bit more 'contracting' belly than soft belly and it's tougher for example than the skin on my thighs. Having said that it's not too different from the real pregnant bellies I have felt - I recall feeling my wife when she was expecting and being rather surprised that her belly wasn't at all squishy the way her tummy normally is - I guess real babies are well protected by that rigidity.
One disapppointment is that they let you supply a waist size on ordering and I thought they would make the straps longer for my 40" waist but what they actually do is send you an extension strap which velcroes on. Luckily I found that the belly just fitted me without needing the extension strap.
Overall the feeling is just awesome and I am so thrilled I finally ordered it!! I cannot wait to sleep in it when the missus goes to stay with her family in Ireland!!!
Some other points noting - they quote it as being 15.5cm deep but in fact I would say it's more - maybe more like 25cm in terms of how far it protrudes from your stomach. I use a TENS/EMS for birth contractions and one issue I ran into is that it sometimes starts to pull away at the gel pads on the TENS if for example I lay on my tummy on the side on the bed and that caused me a few ouch moments because with less of the pad in contact with your skin you end up with what I would term a hot area where the current going through you is localised over a small area which doesn't feel very nice. I'm going to try putting my other bump band over the TENS pads and under the belly to prevent this. Note - this only happened when I lay on the tummy sort of on my side, it didn't happen in any other position...
Was it worth £300 including expedited shipping - I would say absolutely!!! Its really nicely made, it feels amazing to wear, the weight and shape are bang on!!
Hoping I can attach some photos and you can see them. Here goes:
joshlg_uk
Where it scores over punch balloons though is in the shape which is just perfect! There;s a real feeling of it being part of you which I never had with the punch balloons or other padding and I love the texture and feel of it especially when it warms up against your skin. I'd say it's got a very firm feel, perhaps a bit more 'contracting' belly than soft belly and it's tougher for example than the skin on my thighs. Having said that it's not too different from the real pregnant bellies I have felt - I recall feeling my wife when she was expecting and being rather surprised that her belly wasn't at all squishy the way her tummy normally is - I guess real babies are well protected by that rigidity.
One disapppointment is that they let you supply a waist size on ordering and I thought they would make the straps longer for my 40" waist but what they actually do is send you an extension strap which velcroes on. Luckily I found that the belly just fitted me without needing the extension strap.
Overall the feeling is just awesome and I am so thrilled I finally ordered it!! I cannot wait to sleep in it when the missus goes to stay with her family in Ireland!!!
Some other points noting - they quote it as being 15.5cm deep but in fact I would say it's more - maybe more like 25cm in terms of how far it protrudes from your stomach. I use a TENS/EMS for birth contractions and one issue I ran into is that it sometimes starts to pull away at the gel pads on the TENS if for example I lay on my tummy on the side on the bed and that caused me a few ouch moments because with less of the pad in contact with your skin you end up with what I would term a hot area where the current going through you is localised over a small area which doesn't feel very nice. I'm going to try putting my other bump band over the TENS pads and under the belly to prevent this. Note - this only happened when I lay on the tummy sort of on my side, it didn't happen in any other position...
Was it worth £300 including expedited shipping - I would say absolutely!!! Its really nicely made, it feels amazing to wear, the weight and shape are bang on!!
Hoping I can attach some photos and you can see them. Here goes:
joshlg_uk
