Читать книгу Stand and Deliver!: And other Brilliant Ways to Give Birth - Emma Mahony - Страница 36

OK, OK, you don’t mind signing up for the reflexology and massage session, but you just can’t face the swimming pool or even the yoga class in your current state.

Enter the Birth Ball, the final resort for those for whom exercise is a dirty word. It exercises you while you sit on it, without you having to do anything. No, it’s not some sort of pregnancy slendertone, it is a big thick latex ball which promises not to burst (it can take up to 300 lb/21½ stone in weight) and tones the supportive muscles in your spine. Remember those fashionable gym shoes that cost a fortune? The ones based on the Masai tribe in Africa who were noted as having the best posture in the human race because they walked barefoot on uneven ground? Apparently having to correct your posture continually tightens up all those lazy leg muscles. The Gym or Birth Ball works on the same principle – just the act of staying on top of the ball while you are doing your make-up or watching telly, keeps you toned and ‘helps your baby get into the optimal foetal position’ by raising your hips higher than your knees. Besides, you can use it after the birth as a handy computer stool, as this typed sentence proves, and for bouncing your toddlers away from the keyboard as they sit on your knee swiping at it with sticky fingers.

For extroverts who want to bring it in to the hospital, may I just issue one word of warning. A friend Rosie fell pregnant in New York and could not get her birthing ball into the boot of the yellow cab as she contracted away on the pavement. In the end she sailed off to hospital leaving the blue spacehopper behind. Check your boot size, or inflate it once installed, before rolling in to hospital.

For the most comprehensive essay ever written on the benefits of a birth ball, visit (and buy) from www.activebirthcentre.com. At the time of writing it’s yours for £29.95 plus pump.