Mobile app lets parents-to-be track baby's development

It's FOX 5 Storm Team Chief Meteorologist David Chandley's job to stay one step ahead of Georgia's sometimes unpredictable, sometimes dangerous weather.

But last November, David and his wife Lynn were caught off guard by some important personal news, They're going to become grandparents for the first time later this summer.

"You always anticipate that moment, where you're going to hear those words from your daughter, and then it really happens and it's just like, you can't express," Lynn Chandley says.

After IVF and a lot of prayers, the Chandleys' oldest daughter Lauren and her husband Kyle Reidy broke the news Thanksgiving morning, she's pregnant with a girl.

"And it's a moment I'll never forget," Lauren Reidy remembers. "We just all stood in the kitchen and cried."

And, since this Lauren's first pregnancy, she had a lot of questions about what to expect.

"Your body is doing different things, and you want to know, is this normal, should I be feeling this," Reidy says. "So, I went online and I went to my app store and I just looked for pregnancy trackers."

That's when she found The Bump, a mobile app for parents-to-be.

"The app was free," Lauren Reidy says. "So I just downloaded it. Made an account. Plugged in my information and my due date."

Then, Lauren shared her login with her mom and dad and little sister, Leah, who is away at grad school. Now they're all keeping tabs on "Baby Reids."

"It really brings it closer, it makes it real," David Chandley says. "I mean I see her, I know what she's going through, but this is like, whoa!"

Each week, they get an update, comparing the baby's size to a piece of fruit.
Lauren was 13 weeks pregnant when she showed us the app.

"It says Baby Reid is as big as a lemon, 2.4 inches," she says.
"There is my lemon, she's a lemon," David Chandley smiles. "And then we're going to be an avocado, and then a melon, whatever it is, But we're already talking about her, and that's kind of cool."

The Bump's 3D image feature projects what the baby might look like, and how she's developing, from week to week.

"They're getting the bones in their hands and feet, and they're vocal chords," Lauren Reidy says. "So, it's really cool to think about that, she's about this size." "It's just a miracle to try to comprehend what this little baby, how she's growing and developing," Lynn Chandley says.

Lauren also uses the app to read pregnancy and parenting articles.
Lately, she's been struggling with nausea, so she has asked about natural remedies on the app's forums for expectant moms.

"I find myself going to it a lot," she says. "Like, 'Is this normal, or, when am I going to stop being nauseous?'"

That hasn't happened yet.

But Lauren has been able to share her ultrasounds, and photos of tiny but growing belly.
For David and Lynn -- it's like having their own grandchild Storm Tracker.

"Their forecasting may be a little bit more accurate, don't you think, because they know what's going to happen," David Chandley says. "You know what each week is going to bring!"

Baby Reids still has months to go. But in some ways, it's like she's already here.

"That's the wonderful thing about that," David Chandley says.