• Studies show that women who prepare for their labor and birth have a better experience, lower rates of intervention, and better outcomes.

• Learning how to use a birthing ball can be beneficial for relieving back pain, decreasing pelvic pressure, and it might even shorten labor.

FAQs About Birth Ball Basics

What is Birth Ball Basics™?

Birth Ball Basics Clinic is a 3 hour clinic that is often broken up into two 1.5 hour sessions. It is appropriate for any trimester of pregnancy. We recommend taking the class as early as possible because it gives you a longer period of time to implement the exercises, to build your body strength, but also begin to prepare your mind for the emotional and mental rigors of labor and birth.

Why Should You Take Birth Ball Basics™?

There are many studies to support using birth balls and peanut balls during labor. With the peanut balls, especially for those who are choosing to have an epidural, knowing how to correctly use a peanut ball during labor will significantly shorten their labor and push time. This is particularly true for first time mothers. Additionally, knowing how to use a peanut ball to open the inlet of the pelvis or the outlet of the pelvis for comfort measures in general is a useful thing for women during labor.

Using the birth ball, during pregnancy has be shown to strength your body physically. Many of the exercise we teach in the first part of the BBB clinic are specifically geared towards strengthening your legs, the muscles around your pelvis, and in your core. Simply sitting on the ball helps to fire the deep core muscles such as the transverse abdominal muscle, the internal obliques, and the external obliques. Additionally, sitting on the birth ball helps to challenge the balance center of the brain. Women in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy fall at the same rate as women at the age of over 70, so it’s important to continuously fire that balance center of the brain and challenge it.

What Types of Movements/Exercises Will We Do?

You will also use the ball during the clinic for the exercise portion to strengthen your legs, core, and upper body. The reason why this is important is because, as we say, in labor your legs are the motor. We say this because during labor, up-right positions and forward leaning positions help to progress labor and help to provide an environment in which the baby is able to move into a more optimal position. We want you to use the ball during pregnancy to strengthen the body and a superb way to do so is through a wall sit. The purpose of a wall sit is dual: first, to strengthen your legs and core, and perhaps even more important, is to strengthen your mind. The longer you stay in that wall sit the more intense it becomes for your legs. This is very much mimicking the way the intensity of a contraction increases over time. It is good practice for your brain to be able to move into that mental space where you move into a relaxed, softened position even during an intense experience. You will learn more about how to do a “scan and soften” during the wall sit to practice staying relaxed and soft during the intensity of a contraction.

What Do I Need to Bring?

The only thing you need to bring to class is a yoga mat and birth ball. If you are at home taking a virtual class, you can use the carpet in one of your bedrooms instead of a yoga mat. You may also need a scarf. We use a scarf for comfort measures and it is helpful to have on hand. You do not have to have any level of fitness to attend BBB. It is open to all levels of fitness and is not a kick but fitness. It is designed as an educational clinic. The first part of the clinic is the exercise part, and the rest is on using the birth and peanut ball in labor for positioning, comfort, and pushing. Finally we will discuss using the ball in the postpartum period to soothe a fussy baby.