If you're pregnant it's likely your midwife will recommend that you get yourself a 'birth ball'. These balls are like the ones you see in the gym or pilates class, and they are great for helping baby to get in the 'optimal foetal position', the right position for birth. This can mean a quicker and easier labour, and who wouldn't want that?
But it’s not just in labour that these balls are useful. They can also be used for staying fit and strong during your pregnancy and for getting your core strength back quickly afterwards. However, most women really don’t know how to use one. If that strikes a chord with you then take a look at The Miracle Box. Designed by specialist fitness professionals, it’s a complete exercise/birthball kit that gives you all the instructions you’ll need.
The Miracle Box contains a top quality ‘anti-burst ball’, a fast action pump, and 3 x A2 exercise posters covering safe and effective pregnancy exercises, postnatal exercises with baby, and advanced exercises for continued toning. Added to this there is also a 20 minute educational DVD ‘a simple guide to pelvic floor and core exercises’ teaching you how to isolate your pelvic floor muscles and regain your pelvic floor strength naturally. The DVD also teaches you some floor and ball based core exercises. There are also details within the box on how to download information sheets on Optimal Foetal Positioning including late pregnancy postures, exercises to help move your baby plus getting your baby into the best position for birth.
Please select the correct ball size! The suggested ball size is related to your height. This is so that when you sit on the ball (when correctly inflated to the indicated size) your knees are positioned slightly lower than your hips.
Height 5'5"/165cms and under - 55cm Birth Ball
Height 5'6"/167.5cms - 6'1"/185.5cms - 65cm Birth Ball
I was recommended the miracle box by a friend, of which I was delighted! I needed a ball for the later stages of pregnancy, due to backache and my baby going breach and this package ticked all the boxes. I have subsequently used the ball and exercises for post natal recovery, I can certainly recommend the miracle box
- Alecia Dawson, Buckinghamshire
Excellent Product
Date Posted: 27/11/2011
I recently purchased the miracle box and thought it was great value. The quality of the ball was excellent, I did buy a cheaper ball to start with but this kept going down. I was also unsure as to what exercises I could do on the ball, I did look on the Internet but having the wall charts makes it easy to refer to each time. I use my ball every evening and the fact that it relieves my back pain makes it worth every penny. You get what you pay for.
- Barbara Cooper, Berkshire
Not convinced
Date Posted: 19/06/2011
The manufacturing quality of this product is good, but to be honest, overpriced. Ive seen similar quality exercise balls in supermarkets for five pounds or so, so for me, the value of buying this particular box set was in the supplementary information on how to get the most out of it, and here, for the price, I was disappointed.
The pelvic floor exercise DVD showed a lot of clips about where the pelvic floor is and why its important, and very little in terms of actual exercise. Everything on the DVD could have been found on the internet easily for free.
There were also posters of different exercises you could do with the ball which were good if you were as slender and athletic as the models in the pictures, but not realistic for someone in the latter stages of pregnancy. They might have been more useful earlier on I suppose, but at 6 months pregnant I struggled to find any of the exercises that I could actually do. This is perhaps because the box is orientated more towards women with stress incontinence than pregnancylabour, so possibly more valuable for the post-birth recovery period. Having said that, I doubt Ill be feeling that bendyathletic post-birth with a small baby.
If youre looking for something that will specifically strengthen the pelvic floor and prepare you for labour, I would use the internetjust pick up a standard exercise ball. With all the costs of pregnancy and childbirth, I dont think it represents value for money.
Super comfortable
Date Posted: 18/06/2011
I bought this in the middle of my 2nd trimester primarily because I had such bad sciatica that is was too painful to sit on normal chairs...and it was a godsend. Its so comfortable and helps you sit very straight in an effortless manner. It comes with 3 different pamphlets for exercises prenatal, postnatal and beyond. Im 33 weeks now so yet to use it during labour but have learnt some useful positions with it @ the NCT antenatal course. The only minor grumble - the pump is pretty flimsy ineffectual so we used my bike pump
Suki Sabine
not that good value
Date Posted: 16/06/2011
I was a bit disappointed with this "box". Its cheaper to buy a ball and pump separately, and the exercises are easy to find on the internet or learn if youre doing active birth classes or similar. Having said that the instructions were easy to follow and Ill make good use of the exercise posters and dvd now I have them!
