Peanut ball

blueberrymomma

I just wanted to share my experience with the peanut ball (picture below) during labor. I first heard about it from my cousin who delivered a month before me. She said it really helped accelerate her labor after she was induced. So when I was being induced I asked the nurses about it and they told me they don't use it until you are fully effaced. Once I was dilated to a 6/7 we started using it. So you just lay on your side and stick it between your legs and it's suppose to help you dilate and help the baby engage(little man was still -1) Well within 15 min I had insane pressure and the need to push and was fully dilated. The nurses were concern because my doctor was on her way back from church that she wouldn't make it on time (she did)
So I highly recommend trying one if your hospital or birthing center has one. The nurses told me everyone who tried the ball had things accelerate pretty quickly.

hbg8711

good to know. My hospital has them in all the rooms but I thought it was just something nice they offered to make things more comfortable. I'll have to take advantage when I get there.

MississippiCatfish

I've been seeing these all over the Internet, but I don't even remember seeing them with my first two kids. Are they pretty new? Interesting. 

egraves4

I've heard about this but I don't believe my hospital offers this.  Really cool though!

dtaded13

They didn't have this but did something similar. They had me lie on my side and put one leg up on the stirrups. I believe it helped speed things up, once we did that I progressed pretty quickly and felt lots of pressure

Shatzegirl

Good to know! My doula has one! 

Cowboycorgi

dtaded13 said:

They didn't have this but did something similar. They had me lie on my side and put one leg up on the stirrups. I believe it helped speed things up, once we did that I progressed pretty quickly and felt lots of pressure

March lurking

yes! If your hospital doesn't provide one you can either side lie with knee in stirrup, or ask for several pillows to prop your leg up. Google peanut pillow for labor and you will see how far apart we like your knees to be, and the angle of your hips. 
The ball is really nice for simplicity and for clean up, and is more comfortable to most than a stirrup. You don't need the fancy ball to accomplish this. 
You can also buy your own and bring it from Amazon. 
Good luck ladies, my clients almost always fall in love with peanut balls or birthing balls 

willamina28

I had the same experience last time. I was just not budging from 9 cm so the nurse busted this ball out and boom, not long after I was at 10cm. All the other nurses were fussing about my pitocin drip, was very happy to have someone there that thought outside of the box, will for sure be bringing this up again this time around!

mcklough

One of my nurses went to find one and hid it in my room for me when they started the induction. We ended up using it for 30 min on each side and then the dr checked me and said "ok ready to push!" 

Who knows what would have happened without it but my experience was great!

TalulaPants

I'm glad to hear it worked for someone lol. By the time they brought the peanut ball in it was a last resort. Ended up with the emergency c section. None of my nurses really explained to me what the purpose of it was either. They focused on explaining the foley bulb, miso and Pitocin. 

mommaz1

I also used the peanut ball, but I sat on it to rock ball and forth with a bit more stability than the regular birthing ball. I was incredibly lucky to not have a painful labor until the last hour [18 hours total], but baby was having difficulty keeping his heart rate up during contractions so I was confined to my sides. This made my hips go numb so I asked to use the ball. Allowed me the energy and comfort to get through the last few hours. Looking back, I'm so grateful since the last hour of labor went downhill incredibly fast for both myself and baby and I needed to have that energy.