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It was a blustery, cold winter’s day in Michigan in December of 1986. If you looked hard enough, you would have seen a young attractive, dark haired woman struggling with her purse and her books. She was carrying 50 pounds more than her slight build of 110 was used to. While one hand hoisted her books and purse, Mona’s other hand reached around to hold the pregnancy that slowed her steps as the rushing tide of MSU students streamed past her. Medicare and Social Services had had given her two options. Work or get a degree. She could get a job at minimum wage and see her benefits decrease in proportion to her income. Attending college with the promise of a future spurred her determination to succeed. She was resolved that her beautiful little two year old boy and this baby whom she would hold in her arms in the new year would not have to live in poverty simply because she was a single mom. “I can’t keep up,” she thought. When she held her stomach and her books, her back ached. When she held her back, she could feel the straining in front. “I can’t hold it together,” she groaned. After school she went from store to store trying on every maternity support they had. The large sizes were too small and the styles that fit did not feel comfortable. A frustrated voice inside of her screamed, “HELP ME!”
On Christmas day, that year, at her parent’s home, she watched her toddler play as she enjoyed the company of her family relaxing around the table following a sumptuous Holiday dinner. That was the first time Mona proposed that we should come up with a support that would help her “make it through” the rest of her pregnancy.
My mission was clear: Support as if Mona was clasping her hands under her pregnancy, so that Mona can use her hands and arms to carry whatever she wants to without having to hold herself.
The final design accomplished what we had set out to do. But, it still needed to be sewn to hold it together. In order to sew it Mona had to take it off. It was like watching a slow motion ballet being performed in my very own basement, as Mona, with extreme delicacy, slipped her arms and legs out of her customized abdominal and back support while the multitude of pins holding it together, even though they were cautiously placed, still threatened to poke through.
A basting stitch is a loose stitch that is not intended to last. Every seam of the customized support was sewn with a basting stitch. As Mona reclined in a sitting position on my couch with the basted support on, the name came very clearly to me and I said out loud, “Prenatal Baby Cradle.” She responded back, “Prenatal Cradle.” The name stuck.
Three months later, while Mona was visiting, she showed me she was still wearing her customized, basted support that hadn’t fallen apart after having run it through the washer numerous times. She emphatically expressed, “this is so comfortable, and I don’t even know that I’m wearing it. Some afternoons, I think it isn’t working and take it off and the pains come back. This is wonderful! We have to market it so that other women can be this comfortable during their pregnancies...” “But what if we put it on the market and someone with more money copies the design?” I asked. “We would be out of business before we even began.”
It was settled. If the “Prenatal Cradle” could be patented, then we would be in for business. Each of us called lawyer after lawyer in the phone book for free consultations. After exhausting countless avenues we turned to our last and best choice: 1-800-LAWYER.
That was the beginning. Today, the Prenatal Cradle is enthusiastically recommended by Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, Physical Therapists, Healthcare Professionals, Mothers-to-be and others as an effective device in providing back and abdominal Support. The Prenatal Cradle is available in Baby Shops, Maternity Stores, Clinics, Hospitals, Pharmacies, Medical Equipment Stores, Online, and Select Catalogs, through Importers, and Exporters and through other Merchants. Some insurances cover our products. Retailers who sell Prenatal Cradles recognize the need for their customers to experience the ultimate patented support that works with the body and lifts without compression. Prenatal Cradle Inc.’s other products include the V2 Supporter, Mini Cradle, Hip Brace, Prenatal Cradle Plus, Natural Embrace Baby Sling, and the Hip/V2 Combo.
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Compression therapy for vulvar varicosities or the feeling that "everything is going to fall out the bottom".
