Birthing Ball

[ChaCha]

Can I pls have first hand experience of using a birthing ball (during labour or pregnancy) and suggestions as to where I can buy one.

Thanks
ChaCha 32wks

I loved it towards the end of my preg - i used to bounce on it whilst watching tv. Really helped with backache - it encourages you to sit properly. Also used it through beginnings of labour. Deffo a good thing. Can't remember where i got it though. do a google search. Try Blooming marvellous and jo jo maman bebe.

I've been using a birthing ball over the past week. I'm 30 weeks pregnant and have been suffering with siatica.

I've found it has helped releave the pain in my lower back. Although if I sit on it for too long I do find I'm front heavy when I get up where the baby has moved to the front.

I did have a go on one when I was in labout with dd (5.5 years ago) but I found it couldn't get comfy and I was sick whilst on it (not sure if this was connected in any way). I laid in the bed for most of my labour.

Argos sell them for about £5 I think!!! Although I borrowed mine from a friend

I bought an exercise ball from Argos for £9.99!! Exactly the same thing.

I used to sit on it watching the TV in the evening, gently bouncing up and down (don't know what the neighbours must've thought). It was such a relief on my lower back and pelvis! I also would lean on it on all fours. I had SPD and I found it the most comfortable place to sit.

Ds liked it too!!!

I've just seen this in Argos. Would that be it?

/link{http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3020685.htm\birthingball}

Whoops....
here

THats it!! You need a pump though.... they are £4.99.

oo this thread just reminded me to go and get mine and pump it up..also great for resting your legs on when you are on the sofa..lol

I got an exercise ball from Argos for under a fiver. As others have said, it helps with sacro-iliac pain, although I find that it does make spd a little worse. You have to have your knees lower than your hips (so it has to be pumped up enough) and it helps the baby move to the optimal LOA position, with its spine to the front.

Yes, that would do!!

Great - thanks!! Will find out what pump I need to get, I did just buy one in the summer for a paddling pool, it cost 20quid so am hoping it will work with the ball. Must check specs.

So you sit on ball and bounce right?

Cross postings...

I bought this one . Same thing, I think, but without the Reebok name and the exercise chart.

ChaCha - The pump you have will do!

You do what you want with it really.... and have fun. Sitting on it and bouncing really helps bring the babies head down and just generally takes the pressure off your lower back. Also makes you feel like a 8 yr old again, on a spacehopper!

RZ - Thats the one I bought too.

I bought one with a pump from Tesco - it was £3.49.

Yay to spacehopping!!!

Oh...and one last thing (i hope), you can take that with you to the hospital right?

ChaCha - Most hospitals have them now.

I love mine, it was from john lewis and a reebok one, you can sit and kinda rock round and it soooooooooo losens your pelvis and all those horrible pains from attempting to get comfy on sofa. I even sit on mine at computer
yes you can take it to hospital, tho they often have them there so check firstduring labour, esp early 'at home ' labour, they are fab to kneel next too and lean across -iyswim, -v comfy

on a side note, if you can pry any children/nieces/nephews from them, who think they are sucha fab toy, they sell very well on ebay afterwards too.

I loved sitting on the ball but also leaning over it on all fours..especially when they told me ds was breech.

I used one in labour for ds3 and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I was sceptical and though 'how on earth can this help?' but I tell you, it was marvellous.

I sat on it for the whole labour, facing the bed and as the contractions got worse I rocked on it, quite vigourously, backwards and forwards. For me it seemed to 'shorten' the contraction so that I could only really feel the peak of it and the slope and up and slope down, iyswim, were not as bad as they could have been.

At the very end I kneeled up on the bed leaning over the back to actually give birth.

That birth was textbook (so the midwives told me - 'it could have been filmed!' they said!) - and it was utterly brilliant. I loved it!!

Go for it, it was the best thing ever.

I find it really comfy to sit over mine with a pillow on the arm of the sofa to rest my head on - it's the only way I can lounge but on my front instead of lying on my back.

Cha cha - i have the one from Argos. It cost £3.99 but beware - it is only a 65cm ball. If you are taller than 5ft 7" then you will need a 75cm one. When DH was pumping it up, we measured it to make sure that it wasn't over inflated and it was very hard to believe that it would actually make it to 65cm, but it did!! I use mine to lean over (modified version of on all fours) to try to turn this breech baby of mine.

The added bonus is that you can use it in the house during early labour (check with your hospital, they probably have them there) and then for exercising after the birth (if you have time!!) and then once your baby is toddler, they will have great fun playing with it.

All for £3.99

I wondered about the measurements, but I'm a shortie so it didn't matter to me too much. I notice that the Active Birth Centre and similar only sell the 65cm one though - which, I agree, doesn't help tall women much, particularly since they don't mention that you might need a bigger one (unlike physio sites).

Another point: the stopper (or whatever you call it) is a bugger to get out, so you need a pair of pliers to hand...

I'm only 5'4"... so a bit of a shorty too.