“You can use a Swiss ball anytime during pregnancy, from trimester one to trimester three, and throughout all stages of labour,” says Midwife Pip. If you’re already nearing the end of your pregnancy and haven’t done any ball exercises so far, don’t worry – it’s never too late to reap the benefits. Bear in mind the study mentioned in the introduction of this article, which showed that performing birth ball exercises for 4-6 weeks at the end of pregnancy could increase the rate of vaginal delivery.