My rolling programme the birth ball: ten years experience of using the physiotherapy ball for labouring women

The birth ball is more than a midwifery tool to help women remain in control of their labour. It is also a vehicle through which midwives can challenge the current medical model of birth that views interventions as normal and normal birth as a chance happening. Midwives are ideally placed to challenge the status quo and they must play a pivotal role in changing the culture around birth and improving women's birth experience as well as keeping the art of midwifery and humanity of birth alive. This article outlines how one midwife encountered the ball in a German labour ward ten years ago and how she has been introducing it and advocating its use in the United Kingdom (UK).