Inflating a birthing/gym ball

[PipPipPip]

I just bought a birthing/gym ball to use in my last few weeks of pregnancy, and possibly in early labour.

I've used a good electric air compressor to inflate it, but the ball doesn't seem firm enough even though the air pump has kinda reached maximum capacity.

It is a bit squishy, which means it doesn't quite give the 'instability' you're looking for in a ball. Does that make sense?

So my dumb question is, uh, how did you inflate yours??

Mine came with a small hand pump and is pumped up pretty firmly.

I used a v cheap balloon pump (think a quid) to do mine, so it might be worth getting one to top it up with.

when you are on the ball, your knees need to be below the line of your pelvis for good positioniong of baby too so make sure it's inflated enough.

Mine came with what was described as a tape measure. It is just a long ribbon of plastic with a hole in either end. The pump nozzle went through the holes before inserting the nozzle into the ball. The ribbon wraps around the circumference of the ball and when it is tight you have inflated the ball correctly.

We would have never inflated the ball enough with this ribbon. I have just measured it and hole to hole it is 201cm or 79 inches. This is for a 65cm ball.

I took mine to the local garage and got them to fill it with the air hose for pumping tyres, Feel silly saying it but so easy