THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310480
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BARCO LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
Without giving birth, Currituck County teenagers are finding out that being a mom can be an exhausting challenge.
They've discovered that when they're tired and want to sleep, the baby may cry and cry and demand attention.
They've found that they may have to leave in the middle of a gripping movie because others in the theater are offended when the baby won't stop crying.
And some have turned down party invitations because they didn't want anything to happen to the baby.
Most of them treat the baby they're in charge of for a weekend like it's real, but it isn't.
It's a $220 computerized doll known as ``Baby Think It Over,'' being used at the Barco high school and across the country to help cut down on teenage pregnancies.
Invented a couple of years ago by a former rocket scientist in California, the doll looks and cries like a real newborn.
The doll is programmed to cry at random intervals of five minutes to six hours and can only be stopped by inserting a magnetic probe that is attached by a plastic hospital band to each girl's wrist. The probe, or key, is placed in a tiny hole on a battery-charged unit in the baby's back.
``I expected her to cry, but I didn't expect her to cry so much,'' said 16-year-old LaDonna Cooper, who, like the others, carried her baby, Chantel, everywhere she went for one weekend.
``We went to church, and the preacher came up to me. He was, like, `Oh my gosh! Well, has she been baptized?' And I said, `She's not real.' And they didn't believe me,'' Cooper said.
Being responsible for a baby, the girls said, changed their lifestyles quickly.
``I got invited to a party, and I wanted to go. But I didn't want her to get broken,'' said Tabitha Orr, 16, of baby Brittany Nicole. ``I wanted my mom to watch her, but I had that thing on my wrist.''
So, she said, ``I ended up staying home, all night, by myself.''
The probe must be held in place for up to 35 minutes before the baby gives another cry to signal it's ready to sleep. Baby Think It Over also cries if laid down improperly, but quiets after being repositioned.
Even without the addition of constant diaper-changing, feedings and entertaining, a few days with the doll leaves its adopted parents exhausted.
Cheryl Bruce, 15, enjoyed all the attention being paid to her and her 8-pound newborn, Jonathan Michael, as they strolled through Chesapeake's Greenbrier Mall.
But she was running a little low on sleep and high on anxiety because of episodes like the one the previous night, when Jonathan wouldn't stop crying.
``They're very excited when they pick them up on Friday afternoon. And Monday morning, they're a tad bit draggy. They're a little tired,'' said Dee Talley, the high school nurse in charge of the program.
Since being introduced this year, the program has become quite popular. Talley recently put in an order for a fourth doll, which will bring the gender and racial collection into balance.
More than 5,000 have been sold to schools, hospitals and church and civic groups throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Plans are under way to expand sales into Germany, Austria and Australia, according to Baby Think It Over Inc., literature.
Baby Think It Over comes as schools across North Carolina are being pushed to provide abstinence-only sex education in public schools.
The state has the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation, and surveys indicate 75 percent of North Carolina high school students have had sex by the 12th grade.
Last summer the General Assembly passed a bill that stresses abstinence as the only message that can be taught in public schools. By next fall, school districts wishing to include any other form of sex education must hold public hearings first.
Talley said Currituck has a lower teen pregnancy rate than many other northeastern North Carolina counties and does emphasize abstinence in its curriculum. But she is concerned that further narrowing instruction poses problems in other areas of sex education, such as AIDS prevention.
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., visiting the Elizabeth City Middle School on Monday, hinted at support for programs like Baby Think It Over after a student asked him about teen pregnancy.
``Some of our young people need to find out what it's like to have a baby when you're 14 or 15 years old,'' Hunt said.
Myra Everette, 15, can tell you just from one weekend with her robo-baby. ``It was horrible,'' she said.
Everette was pleasantly surprised when her baby, Quincy Gevon, was quiet for the duration of a date. Then, after going to sleep at 2 a.m., the crying started.
``I panicked. I thought something was going wrong,'' she said. It took ``30 whole minutes'' before the baby could be put back down. And that, Everette soon realized, was just the beginning.
``My dad - he was like, `Take it back!' '' she said. ``It woke him up, like, four times the first night. He got mad. The second night, it woke him up three times.''
Students who sign up for the voluntary program agree to a list of conditions on how the baby is handled. Parents also agree to abide by the rules and pay for any destroyed dolls.
Talley can program the intermittent crying for a normal, good or sick baby. All previously programmed newborns have been ``normal,'' but one mother has requested a ``sick baby'' for her child when her name is reached on a long waiting list.
``She wants it to be as difficult as it can be,'' Talley said.
The doll leaves telltale signs of mistreatment, making it very difficult to ditch the doll, which teen users have admitted was a real temptation.
A yellow blinking light on the battery-charged unit tucked inside the baby indicates the newborn was neglected. A red light signals abuse. Both colors blink faster with each incident.
Fortunately, only one baby has come in on Monday with a red light - and that was the result of a baby brother who got hold of the doll, Talley said.
All participants interviewed said they'd learned a valuable lesson and encouraged their classmates - including teenage boys - to participate.
``It's not just about cute clothes and people giving you a lot of attention,'' Bruce said. ``It's staying up all night, changing diapers. . . . MEMO: Staff writer Perry Parks contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Tabitha Orr, left, and Myra Everette were ready to take their
mechanized charges back to Currituck High after a weekend of child
care.
by CNB