One of the girls in my buddy group has one and has been using it. Sorry, I don't have much info on it. I will send her over to this thread if no one is of any help.
Kim and Simone - It is a little, balloon type device that you put inside you to get your perineum ready for birth... it is also great for your pelvic floor muscles.
From what I understand... you gradually increase the balloon size so that it gently stretches your perineum... I don't know much more than that though... I am actually wishing that I got it, because I am paranoid of tearing now!!!
I have one. Had problems with it - but apparently it's just me - but read the instructions very carefully to avoid injuring yourself.
I think i paid about $160 for it, apparently they are supposed to be great, and will def. use it b4 next birth. You can also use it for pelvic floor training, so have been meaning to start using it now to help with that.
You can get it online, i got it from a pharmacy in Clayton, Vic.
Sounds cool!! I just usd my thumb to do "prepare" mine - i was told just to put my thumb just inside (went to about the first knuckle) and slowly stretch until it starts burning a little then hold it. I think for about a minute or so?? i was told to do this a few timesa day with my second, and i birth my second son with not even a graze... a 8lber
Good luck finding it though!! Maybe online somewhere??
I've got one and love it!!! I've used it in both my pregnancy's and not torn. It's a rubber bulb type thing (like the thing that pumps up a blood pressure cuff) that you put in your vagina and pump it up a little each day until it gets to 10cm then you practice pushing it out. It can then be used after to strengthen the pelvic floor. It has a fantastic sucess rate in reducing perineal tears and reduces pushing time by 20 minutes. Well worth the $150ish it costs. I got mine from oze pharmacy in Castle Hill Syd but you can phone order it from there too. It says not to use till 36weeks but that is a bit late really as you need to start stretching the perineum quite early in pregnancy, I started mine at 28weeks, it can't do any harm and certainly will not start labour. It's meant to be much more effective that perineal massage alone.
Last edited by kiki; January 20th, 2007 at 08:33 PM.
kiki - i'm assuming that you read the instructions like me, inflated it a little bit until you could feel it, and then practise pushing it out?
I did that, got an internal tear from it, and stopped using it like 3 weeks b4 cos i wanted the tear to heal b4 the birth, and then was told by the company that i wasn't doing it right and you weren't supposed to push it out inflated??
I still think they are good, but do warn people to be careful, do it slowly, b/c you can cause *minor* problems.
Oh crikey you poor thing! Yeh I whacked it in, inflated it to 7cm (the biggest I could tolerate) and pushed it out!! None of that "litle and often" for me rather "lets see how much pain I can take"!!!! I deserved the tear not you!! oooops
I wasn't so good on the little and often (just recommending that for others), as i think it did say do it to what you can tolerate or something... It was big but not huge, probs around 5 i think...
But i am right that it basically says to push it out inflated.. they claimed i was doing it wrong (maybe they were worried i would sue??) and i think if i was wrong then their instructions are pretty poorely worded.
Did u work for you? I'm still going to try next time, but be a lot more careful.
I had a vac extract, so had 2 x 1st degree tears, but it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be (tearing that it, it was my biggest fear).
It didn't hurt so much, but i have a pretty high pain tol.
It was more the shock of going to the toilet a few mins later and finding blood everywhere.. i freaked out bigtime.. but got to test the reponse of my obs - 40 sec call back after paging him i was bleeding.... so something good came of it
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Where can u get epi-no?
to you hun, that sucks...
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