An exercise ball, often referred to as a birth ball when used during labor, can provide support for pregnant and laboring women. Sitting on the ball instead of a chair during pregnancy can strengthen your back and open up your pelvis in preparation for labor. During labor, using a birth ball can ease your discomfort and even speed up the labor process by improving the baby’s positioning.
Significance
Sitting on a birth ball during labor can work with gravity to help your baby’s head engage into your pelvis, according to the Peninsula Regional Medical Center. It can also keep the baby properly aligned within your pelvis and speed up dilation and effacement. Women seated on a birth ball can also move their hips in a natural circular or swaying motion, which can open up their pelvis and give the baby more room to descend.
Getting Labor Started
Sitting on the ball before and during active labor can help get your baby’s head onto the cervix and move labor along, according to Gail Tully, a homebirth midwife and creator of the "Spinning Babies" website. If your water has broken, but contractions have not started, Tully recommends sitting on the ball and spending 20 minutes doing circles on the ball, changing directions periodically. Once contractions start, alternate abdominal lifts – done by linking your hands under your belly and gently lifting up -- with the circles.
Help for Stalled Labor
Women confined to bed with a stalled labor or a baby who won’t descend into the pelvis can also use the birth ball to help the baby move down into the pelvis. Tully recommends that the laboring woman sit on the birthing bed with her knees bent and the soles of her feet touching. Place the birth ball into the space between her knees and have her lean forward to hug the ball. With her support team on each side of her holding her arms and shoulders, she can sway vigorously from side to side to shift the baby lower through the pelvis.
Safety Tips
Bare feet provide important traction when using the ball, so keep shoes and socks off, if possible, or use non-slip socks or shoes. When climbing onto the ball, hold it steady with both hands and place your feet flat on the floor, about two feet apart. For added security, ask your birthing coach or attendant to stand behind you while you use the ball to prevent falls. Pregnancy shifts your center of balance, and can make balancing on the ball tricky.
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