Birthing ball on promoting cervical ripening and its influence on the labor process and the neonatal blood gas index

Table 1 Comparison of baseline data between the two groups of mothers

Group	n	Age (yr)	Pregnancy times (times)	Parity (times)	Average height (cm)	Prenatal BMI	Induced labor pregnancy week (wk)
Delivery ball group	100	27.7 ± 3.0	2.85 ± 1.30	0.89 ± 0.40	160.2 ± 4.4	28.9 ± 2.4	40.0 ± 1.1
Regular group	100	28.0 ± 2.9	3.01 ± 1.43	0.93 ± 0.38	159.8 ± 4.0	29.2 ± 2.0	39.9 ± 0.9
t		-0.719	-0.828	-0.725	0.673	-0.960	0.704
P value		0.473	0.409	0.469	0.502	0.338	0.483

Table 2 Comparison of cervical Bishop score between birthing ball group and conventional group (mean ± SD, points)

Group	n	Before intervention	After the intervention	t	P value
Delivery ball group	100	3.71 ± 1.10	7.84 ± 1.52	-22.012	0.000
Regular group	100	3.50 ± 1.25	7.32 ± 1.29	-21.266	0.000
t		1.261	2.608
P value		0.209	0.010

Table 3 Comparison of duration of labor between birthing ball group and conventional group (mean ± SD, min)

Group	n	First stage of labor	Second stage of labor	Third stage of labor	Total labor
Delivery ball group	100	510.9 ± 98.7	43.0 ± 8.5	6.1 ± 1.1	560.0 ± 120.9
Regular group	100	602.1 ± 133.2	48.4 ± 9.1	6.3 ± 1.3	656.8 ± 148.5
t		-5.501	-4.337	-1.174	-5.065
P value		0.000	0.000	0.242	0.000

Table 4 Comparison of neonatal blood gas indexes between birthing ball group and conventional group (mean ± SD)

Group	n	pH	PO2 (mmHg)	PCO2 (mmHg)	1-min Apgar (Scores)
Delivery ball group	100	7.34 ± 0.05	27.51 ± 3.61	42.70 ± 4.86	9.10 ± 0.38
Regular group	100	7.33 ± 0.05	26.83 ± 2.76	43.84 ± 4.40	8.94 ± 0.31
t		1.414	1.496	-1.739	3.263
P value		0.159	0.136	0.084	0.001

PO₂: Oxygen partial pressure; PCO₂: Carbon dioxide partial pressure.

Table 5 Comparison of delivery methods between delivery ball group and routine group, n (%)

Group	n	Natural childbirth	Cesarean section
Delivery ball group	100	91 (91.00)	9 (9.00)
Regular group	100	78 (78.00)	22 (22.00)
χ2		6.452
P value		0.011

Table 6 Comparison of complication rate between birthing ball group and conventional group

Group	n	Soft birth canal laceration	Fetal distress	Amniotic fluid pollution	Contractions	Complication rate (%)
Delivery ball group	100	1	2	1	1	5 (5.00)
Regular group	100	4	4	3	0	11 (11.00)
χ2						2.446
P value						0.118