We are big fans of VR! Starting this year we have several VR/AR kits we are loaning to our school libraries, complete with lesson plans they can use to connect classes with all kinds of great resources.
Sure, it’s fun to play with these. But virtual and augmented reality is playing an increasingly important role in a lot of other areas. We are going to look at a different use each week, so you can work with your community members to help them learn about the great things possible for them today, and tomorrow.
As I’ve been looking at this topic, and collecting topics about VR, I’ve been so surprised at the range of areas where VR is possible! And this was a really interesting story, about a woman who chose to use VR to help have a more positive drug-free labor for herself and her baby. And there is a lot of information about the study the doctor has done to make the labor experience better using VR tools.
You can read an excerpt here, and click to read the entire article.
“Erin Martucci, a mom of three in New Hampton, New York, wore virtual reality headsets while giving birth to her two youngest children.
The 43-year-old had such a quick labor with her first child, a now 4-year-old son named Michael Jr., that she wanted to go drug-free giving birth to her second child, just over one year later.
Martucci said she barely knew about virtual reality, much less the fact that the technology was being used for labor. As her labor progressed, and the pain grew more intense, Martucci’s obstetrician offered the option of trying a VR headset.
“[The doctor] came in with the equipment and put it on my head and the scene was a beach and there was also a voice guidance,” Martucci said. “The voice guidance and the visual calmed me down and made me know I could get through the labor without drugs.”
“When [the doctor] came to take them off I was like, ‘What are you doing because I’m using them,'” she recalled. “He said, ‘You’re going to push your baby out,’ and literally one or two minutes later I pushed the baby out.”
Martucci’s daughter, Elizabeth, now 3, was born healthy and happy after about four hours of labor. Martucci said she wore the virtual reality headset for about half the labor, or two hours.”