Owlet's Introducing A New Band That Will Put Expecting Mamas At Ease

Thousands of thoughts run through an expectant mother's head on a daily basis. Will we have the nursery done in time? When should I go back to work? Who will the baby look like? But there are some questions that are more important than others, like those that have to do with your baby's health. There are often long stretches between doctor appointments, meaning you can't always know exactly how baby is doing. Leave it to technology to help out in a way that can reduce some major stress. And Owlet's new band will put expecting mothers at ease.

The Owlet Band, which was unveiled at CES 2019, uses special sensors that are embedded in a fabric band that fits around the mama-to-be's belly and tracks everything from fetal heart rate to kick counts. All the information is sent to your smartphone, with alerts if anything falls out of the healthy, safe, or acceptable ranges.

The sensors are ultra thin and the fabric is made to stretch to a mother's growing belly, according to a press release from Owlet.

Expecting mamas can start using the band at 24 weeks and can continue until full term, according to a review from CNET.

The band has six major features including: fetal heart rate tracking, fetal heartbeat recording, wellness notifications, automated kick counting, contraction tracking, and maternal sleep position indicators, according to Owlet.

You can also record and listen to your baby's heart beat — a real treat for moms who usually have to wait until their next ultrasound to hear from their unborn child. Talk about a miraculous glimpse inside the womb.

"Doctors have been wanting a technology to capture accurate readings at home in order to really find out what is happening inside the womb," Dr. Robert M. Silver, MD, a stillbirth researcher and the chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah, said in a press release from Owlet. "By having this data readily available, I believe we can get a better understanding of the physiology of the normal pregnancy."

Parents are getting more and more comfortable with the use of technology to track their infant's health before and after pregnancy, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"You’ve got a changing demographic, parents that were raised with the internet," Jordan Monroe, the co-founder of Owlet told the publication.

The Owlet band will be available in April through a beta program which you can sign up for, here. It will hopefully be available to purchase in stores and online later in 2019. There is no price information at time of publication.

Owlet is best known for its popular Sock Monitor, which tracks your baby's heart rate and oxygen levels. The sock glows green if everything is fine, but flashes and sets off an alarm if rates or levels drop. It retails for a cool $300, which means that it's only available to parents who can afford that kind of expense.

There are a lot of products out there that help expecting mamas track their unborn baby's progression through pregnancy and the Owlet Band is the newest to the group. And for a generation of parents obsessed with data, having more information available before the baby even arrives is likely to be awfully enticing.

After a very frustrating first birth experience, this Deaf mother wanted a change. Will the help of two Deaf doulas give the quality communication and birth experience this mom wants and deserves? Watch Episode Four of Romper's Doula Diaries, Season Two, below, and visit Bustle Digital Group's YouTube page for more episodes.