What are you supposed to do with a pregnancy ball? (2023)

When should I start using the ball in pregnancy?

When Should You Start Using a Birthing Ball? Ideally, you should start many weeks or months before birth. You can use the birthing ball for exercise and practice balancing. When you use the birthing ball during labor, you will feel pain relief after 20 to 90 minutes.

Do these circles for 20 minutes, changing directions periodically. Alternate abdominal lifts with circles on the ball once contractions begin if the contractions are not yet 3-4 minutes apart and it's not time to sleep.

According to Brichter, sitting on an exercise or birthing ball in neutral wide-legged positions prepares the body for labor by increasing blood flow, opening the pelvis, and encouraging cervical dilation. You can also try birth ball exercises such as circular hip rotations, rocking, and gentle bouncing.

A birthing ball helps distribute your weight more evenly, relieving spinal pressure and easing any back pain or pregnancy niggles. Sitting on a birthing ball also offers counter-pressure to the perineum and thighs as well as offering welcome support to your knees and ankles.

Getting up and moving around may help speed dilation by increasing blood flow. Walking around the room, doing simple movements in bed or chair, or even changing positions may encourage dilation.

A birthing ball is a nice comfortable place for a pregnant person to sit, and because it is an inflated ball, you can bounce on it. Bouncing can help the baby engage into the pelvis more and place more pressure on the cervix.

Gently bouncing on an exercise ball to induce labor not only encourages baby to move down and in turn assist with cervix dilation, but it can also soothe baby, Green says. Sit on the exercise ball, with your legs wide apart, and move your hips up and down.

Birthing balls can be used at any point during pregnancy and for different reasons along the way. Early on, they can alleviate discomfort in your spine, hips and lower back.

Although some women might go into labor while sitting, rotating, or bouncing on a birthing ball, there's no evidence to suggest that these balls can induce labor or break your water.

For most of your pregnancy, baby sort of swims around from one side of your uterus to the other. But at the 33- or 34-week mark, he or she will likely start to move permanently into the “head down” position to prep for labor, and descend further into your pelvis.

How can I get my water to break?

When your water breaks you might experience a sensation of wetness in your vagina or on your perineum, an intermittent or constant leaking of small amounts of watery fluid from your vagina, or a more obvious gush of clear or pale yellow fluid.

Exercise

Walking and exercise often make it to the top of the list of things to try. While there's no research that says it will induce labor, 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five times a week can be helpful in any stage of pregnancy.

Walking. The simple act of walking during pregnancy may help draw the baby down into your pelvis (thanks to gravity and the swaying of your hips). The pressure of the baby on your pelvis may then prime your cervix for labor — or may help labor progress if you've already felt some contractions.

Technically called an exercise ball, a birth ball can: Help balance the ligaments, tendons, and muscles in the pelvic area so baby can settle into an optimal position. During labor, it may coax baby into a better position. Helps strengthen the lower back.

Squats open the pelvis and can encourage baby to put added pressure on the cervix, which helps with dilation. It's important to have good support when in a squatted position during labor, and to keep your feet as parallel as possible instead of in a "V" shape.

Early dilation often feels like menstrual cramps as the cervical changes cause pain and cramping noticed in the lower part of the uterus. It is the same sensation and location as menstrual cramps. Active labor tends to be felt in a larger area but can be a similar sensation as cramping (with more intensity of course).

Dilation and labor

Contractions help the cervix dilate and efface from the beginning stages to the full 10 centimeters. Still, you may be dilated slightly without noticeable contractions.

How do you know if baby has engaged in pelvis?

In the last weeks, some time before birth, the baby's head should move down into your pelvis. When your baby's head moves down like this, it's said to be "engaged". When this happens, you may notice your bump seems to move down a little. Sometimes the head does not engage until labour starts.

Picking out a Birth Ball

Birth balls come in 55 CM, 65 CM and 75 CM sizes. To find the right size for you, when you sit on the ball fully inflated, your knees should be at a 90 degree angle. A ball too big or small will force you to overcompensate your posture, which is the opposite of the intention!

Eating pineapple or drinking pineapple juice has not been proven to induce labor. Pineapple (and its tropical cousin papaya) contains the enzyme bromelain, which is believed by some to soften the cervix and trigger contractions, but no research has shown that bromelain or pineapple actually have this effect.

It's OK to lie down in labour. Lie down on one side, with your lower leg straight, and bend your upper knee as much as possible. Rest it on a pillow. This is another position to open your pelvis and encourage your baby to rotate and descend.