Use a balloon and ping pong ball to show how the cervix thins and dilates during labor

Edited to add: Wow, this little video went way further than I ever expected it to. I’ve had many requests to make more. Please let me know in the Comments section below what information about birth would be helpful to you. What questions do you have? If you’ve already given birth, what do you wish you’d known ahead of time? And one important note: several news sites have suggested I’m a midwife. I am neither a midwife nor a doula (my nails give that away!) I am a childbirth educator and mom of four. I’m also one of the four owners of Puget Sound Birth Center in Washington State (). ----------------------------------- I put this together for my niece Charlotte who, to my absolute delight, is working toward becoming a childbirth educator in New Zealand :) It went unexpectedly viral on Facebook, and I had lots of requests for a YouTube version, so here it is! I want to make sure I give credit where credit is due! I learned this fun way to visualize effacement and dilation from Teri Shilling at a fantastic workshop called Stomp Out Boring Childbirth Classes That workshop is packed with similar fun activities.