BELLY: Immersive Guided Breathing for Pregnancy
An XR Wellness Experience Designed for Expecting Mothers
Role: Product Designer/Founder
Team: Christine Lee
Timeline: 5 Weeks
Scope:
XR Experience Design
Product Design
Market Research & Strategy
Gamification
Overview
Belly is a Virtual Reality (VR) wellness application that helps expecting mothers prepare for childbirth through guided breathing exercises, mindful movement, and stress management techniques.
Traditional childbirth preparation classes can be expensive, time-consuming, and inaccessible to many. Belly reimagines this experience in an immersive and intuitive digital space, making childbirth preparation more engaging, flexible, and effective.
The product was designed with a user-centered approach, ensuring that accessibility, engagement, and personalization were at the core of the experience.
Pinpointing the Problem
How do we use VR to help users stay in tune with their physical health?
What is wellness?
Who currently use VR for mental health?
Who currently uses VR for excercise?
What exercises are offered in VR?
What mental health tools are offered in VR?
Market Research & Insights
VR’s Current Landscape
VR wellness is growing, with more users embracing digital relaxation & mental balance tools (Wunderman Thompson, 2020)
Who are underrepresented users in the current VR landscape that need meditation & wellness?
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted virtual reality (VR) technology, accelerating its adoption and broadening its applications across various domains.
People sought alternatives for communication, entertainment, and work during lockdowns. Social VR platforms helped alleviate loneliness and social anxiety caused by lockdowns. These platforms provided a sense of belonging and facilitated meaningful interactions during a time when in-person gatherings were restricted.
In the aftermath of covid, many people have adjusted their behaviors for in person socializing. Those who are immunocompromised have further adjusted the ways in which they participate in group activities and the spaces that they occupy.
Who would benefit from a personal experience from home?
Pregnant women are a target audience that take all of these aspects into consideration. They need a trusted social circle and rely heavily on these interactions to ease worries, decrease stress, and form social connections. They also face health concerns as their physical wellbeing is critical to their goals of nurturing new life.
The Current Experience
Pregnant women use a variety of methods to prepare for childbirth. They join online social groups, attend meetups, and also enroll in lamaze classes. These classes can take place at local medical centers as well as private studios.
Local medical centers can make the experience less enjoyable, as expecting mothers will risk their personal safety entering an environment that is potentially dangerous to their health. Private studios can also be costly, and have social barriers due to the established culture that surrounds each locale.
Traditional Lamaze classes are 12 hours long. They can be taken over the course of 6 weeks with both partners present and in group settings. This typically costs around $100-$160.
User Need Statement
Existing VR pregnancy apps (e.g., Nurture VR) focus on mindfulness, but there’s a gap in practical birth preparation techniques like breathing & movement.
Additionally, Medical VR pregnancy simulators exist, but they are primarily designed for training healthcare professionals rather than expectant mothers.
Expecting mothers need an accessible, engaging way to practice childbirth breathing techniques and stress management strategies so that they feel prepared and confident going into labor.
Design Challenge
How might we use VR to help expecting mothers feel more in tune with their bodies and reduce anxiety around childbirth?
Target Users: Expecting mothers in their 2nd trimester and beyond
Secondary Users: Partners, doulas, midwives who assist with childbirth preparation
Pain points & user needs identified through research:
High anxiety and stress during pregnancy, especially leading up to labor
Limited access to in-person childbirth education
Need for a flexible, engaging, and personalized alternative to traditional classes
By leveraging immersive interaction design, Belly helps users build confidence, form effective breathing habits, and stay active in a calming and personalized virtual environment.
UX Design Principles & Approach
Service Mapping
Taking the insights gathered from research, I mapped the product services.
Blue: Lamaze practices & breathing techniques
Green: Social opportunities
Pink: Educational content hub
1
Design & Personalization Features
Onboarding Quiz: Helps tailor the experience based on how far along a user is in their pregnancy.
2
Virtual Avatar: A cute mascot reflects the user’s current pregnancy stage for an immersive and empathetic experience.
3
First-Person Perspective: Enhances embodiment and connection to the breath and body. Our first-person avatar reflects real-life pregnancy progression.
User’s VR view looking down at their feet.
Visual styling will be based on their chosen avatar
4
Minimal UI distractions – Clean, simple interfaces with intuitive gestures for seamless interaction. A softly gradient, spa-like space creates a safe personal sanctuary, giving users a sense of peace and focus.
5
Progressive Guidance – Step-by-step tutorials and visual cues make learning breathing techniques easy.
6
Haptic & Audio Feedback – Reinforces proper breathing form, setting the rhythm for an experience.
7
Social & Educational Programming – Reaches users off headset, encourages community building, and sustains app use post birth.
Core Features & Experience
Traditional Lamaze Breathwork Exercises
Belly features two breathing techniques designed for labor preparation:
Conscious Breathing Method
A floating ball guides inhales and exhales, helping users focus on controlled, rhythmic breathing.
Goal: To be used during contractions for pain distraction & management
J Method
A dynamic ring expands and contracts, guiding users to breathe down into their core & pelvic muscles.
Goal: Helps with pushing techniques for labor.
Gentle Movement & Flexibiility Training
Stretch & Flex Mode – Simple, guided pregnancy-safe stretches help maintain flexibility and relieve tension.
Mindful Movement Integration – Gentle movement paired with breathwork for holistic body-mind connection.
Personalized Progress & Habit-Forming Features
Progress Tracker – Encourages consistent practice with milestone achievements.
Motivational Prompts & Positive Reinforcement – Push notifications keep users engaged without pressure. The metaquest can offer sound notifications or a connected phone app can reach users even when off headset in the physical world.
Customizable Sessions – Users can adjust session lengths and intensity based on their comfort level.
Technical VR Design
Movement Tracking for Participation Scores
Initial research will inform criteria for breath. We will look into breathing patterns and consult research into the types of breathing taught in lamaze classes.
Once we define the metrics, we can use these to provide users insight into the success of performing each exercise. These scores will be displayed to the user to provide real time feedback into their level of focus and ability to complete the exercises. Through data driven decision making, the app will then suggest certain modules for the user to practice and develop.
First, what can constitute as breath?
Eyes closing
White noise audio registered by the VR Headset
Head tilt
We can score users on their breath on the following metrics:
Timestamps of eyes closing & opening
Length of white noise audio registered
Audio wavelength of white noise audio registered
Degrees of head tilt
Degree of Meta Quest position change
Meta Quest position within the stated boundary
Additional considerations include:
Starting positions of the exercise. Is this a sitting, standing, or stretching activity?
Business Model & Pricing
Subscription-Based Model
We want to offer Belly to users at the 2nd trimester. An ideal user timeline would be 12 weeks leading up to birth and continued use post birth for stress management and physical health.
Subscription Pricing: $15.99/month
Ideal Timeline for Use:
Starting in the 2nd trimester (approximately 12 weeks before birth)
Continued use postpartum for relaxation and stress management
Development & Budgeting
Projected 5-Month Timeline & Cost Breakdown
Total Labor Cost: $328,330
Interaction Design & Creative Direction: $71,666
Visual Design: $66,666
Development: $71,666
Product Research & Testing: $71,666
Marketing & Launch Strategy: $23,333
Launch & Distribution Plan
Targeting The PregoExpo (Nov 2023)
for a live demo opportunity
MetaQuest Store Distribution
Final Thoughts: The Future of XR Wellness for Pregnancy
Belly is more than an app—it’s a reimagined childbirth preparation tool that merges technology with human-centered design.
By applying UX principles of accessibility, immersion, and habit building, Belly transforms the often stressful journey of childbirth preparation into an engaging, empowering, and deeply personalized experience.
Next Steps:
Conduct observational behavioral research
Build the prototype and perform usability testing with expecting mothers
Refine UI & enhance interaction design based on results from usability testing
Prepare reworked prototype for industry showcase