Balloon Helps Pregnant Woman “Practice”

File this one under WTF?

Jezebel reported yesterday on a new invention filed with the U.S. Patent Office that allows a woman to practice giving birth… with a balloon.

Did any of these people actually go through natural childbirth first? Quick tip – a solid mass of baby is NOTHING like a squishy air-filled balloon. Trust me.

I haven’t tried this thing – and really, I’d have no need now. But here’s the deal, thanks to Inventor Spot: “The way it sort of works is that the balloon is partly located inside the vagina of the pregnant woman.

When inflated, the balloon causes the orifice of the birth canal to dilate in a manner similar to that caused by the emerging head of a baby.”

I understand women are really curious before birth about how this whole thing is going to go down. Especially in the latest weeks of pregnancy, we agonise over whether it’s going to hurt, whether we’re going to know what to do, whether there’s anyway we can actually do it wrong. But after having been there and done that, I can’t imagine how a “balloon birth” would clear up much of the confusion. If anything, I’d be more freaked out during labour when it was NOTHING LIKE what I’d practiced. Because, you know, there’s that hard baby head, the contractions, the baby SHOULDERS… not to mention thirteen hours of labour that tired out my entire body before the pushing.

Does this seem silly to you or would you have liked a little trial run?

Image: Inventor Spot

Via Jezebel