Karen Mother-With-Baby African American Version

Until seeing the contents of the above shipping carton on eBay, I was only familiar with two other 11-1/2-inch (playscale) African American pregnant dolls.  

Mommy-To-Be by Judith Corporation 1992
Happy Family Midge and Baby (a.k.a. Pregnant Midge) 2002

Karen Mother-With-Baby arrived swiftly after the auction ended with me as the only bidder. She wears a floral print maternity dress typical of the styles worn during the 1990s and prior when women attempted to conceal their protruding bellies with loose-fitting maternity clothing.  Today, expectant mothers often wear non-maternity attire that accentuates and celebrates their growing bellies.
 

Karen Mother-With-Baby, 1992, Raffoler LTD comes with extra flat stomach cover, instructions, and certificate of birth.



Karen is in pristine condition, with plastic hair protective band still in place.  Her side-glancing eyes are black with blue pupils.

Karen has two removable stomach covers .  One cover mimics the pregnant stomach.  The other is flat for the postnatal period (see the flat cover attached to the instructions in the second image above).  An abdominal cavity houses the anatomically correct infant as illustrated next.

The gender of the baby is not revealed in the packaging as the babies are said to have been inserted at random at the time of manufacture.  My doll's newborn is male.

Check boxes for the owner to indicate male or female are included on the baby's certificate of birth.  There is also a space to enter the date of birth.

The instructions, which were printed in Hong Kong, read in upper case letters as shown:

DEAR CUSTOMER,

CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING KAREN PART OF YOUR CHILD'S DOLL FAMILY !

YOUR NEW KAREN™ MOTHER-WITH-BABY COMES TO YOU "PREGNANT", WITH BABY INSIDE HER STOMACH.  WHEN YOU REMOVE THE COVER FROM KAREN'S STOMACH, YOU WILL KNOW WHETHER KAREN HAS A NEW LITTLE GIRL OR A NEW LITTLE BOY.

THE STOMACH COVER IS REMOVED BY GENTLY LIFTING THE TOP PART OF THE STOMACH OR BY PRESSING THE LOCK TABS WHICH ARE LOCATED ON THE SIDES OF THE COVER.  AFTER BABY IS REMOVED, THE SECOND, FLAT COVER SHOULD BE FIT ONTO KAREN'S STOMACH.  IT IS EASIEST TO INSERT BABY IN KAREN'S STOMACH JUST THE WAY YOU RECEIVE IT, FEET FIRST WITH HEAD  FACING DOWN.

WE HOPE THAT KAREN WILL BE PART OF YOUR DOLL FAMILY FOR YEARS TO COME.

Distributed by Raffoler, LTD, 1200 Shames Drive, Westbury, NY 11590 in 1992, the doll was Imported to EC by:
Janbo, Trading Ltd
Symbal House, Edgware Rd.
London, NW90HU
England

A white Karen Mother-with-Baby can be seen at this link.

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It appears that 1992 was the year of the gravid doll. In addition to the Mommy-to-Be doll by Judith and Raffoler's Karen Mother-With-Baby, Tyco released the 18-inch Mommy's Having a Baby doll in both African American and Caucasian versions.

This all-vinyl doll wears a stationary ring on her ring finger and has a soft vinyl belly plate attached to her convertible maternity dress. When the pregnant stomach is removed, the dress converts to a "stylish" everyday dress.  Accessories include a "baby scope" (to see the baby move), scale, birth certificate, comb, and of course, the newborn baby.

An image of my Tyco doll, removed from the box for the first time specifically for this post, is shown below followed by images of the back of box and a close-up of a note to parents (obviously to minimize any potential pregnant-doll alarm or controversy).



Mommy's Having a Baby by Tyco 1992

Back of box illustrates little ones exploring the doll and baby.

Mommy's Having a Baby note to parents on back of doll's box (click to enlarge).

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We're Pregnant and It's Okay!

Until earlier today, this couple had been expecting their bouncing baby since the father's box date of 1992.  Father-To-Be and Mommy-To-Be dolls were manufactured by Judith Corporation.  They are 12 and 11-1/2 inches tall, respectively. 

Here's a close-up.   Doesn't Dad look just too excited? 

Mommy-To-Be "carried" the baby in her abdominal cavity.  Its gender was unknown prior to purchase. 

A look inside

The bouncing baby boy

The proud couple gave birth to a bouncing baby boy earlier today after I deboxed them and removed the tummy plate from Mommy for the first time in 19 years.

Mommy-To-Be in the postnatal state

Originally sold through FAO Schwarz, interestingly, for ages 3 and up, I purchased this pair from a fellow collector. 

The side panel of Mommy-To-Be's box lists the following, separately sold items:

• Accessory set with before and after pregnancy clothing
• Her Husband [as shown above], the Father-to-Be Doll
• 8 different maternity outfits
• 2 different sets of accessories for the baby, such as a baby carrier, a walker, and also a baby carriage

These dolls were on the market several years prior to Mattel's controversial Happy Family (2002), which included the pregnant (yet) married-to-Alan, Midge.  Midge's marital status did not prevent the backlash Mattel received from angry parents who felt the dolls' "having a baby" theme was in poor taste and a bad influence on children.   I do not recall any controversy surrounding the Father- and Mommy-To-Be-Dolls, do you?

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