Hunter McGrady absolutely nails what it’s like to endure the Foley Bulb while giving birth

Raise your hand if you have at least a mild form of PTSD from your own Foley Bulb experience during childbirth—yep, I see you. And so does Hunter McGrady, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who gave birth to her first baby over the weekend.

She documented part of her experience while in the delivery room and her reaction to the Foley Bulb as part of her induction into labor is everything.

I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard of the practically medieval torture device called the Foley Bulb or Foley Balloon. Never once in all of my pre-delivery reading and preparation did the Foley Bulb ever come up. I am an obsessive over-preparer with an anxiety disorder, so needless to say—I hate surprises. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when my labor and delivery nurse tells me they’re going full steam ahead on my slowly progressing labor by inserting a giant balloon into my birth canal for an hour or two.

Yeah. If this happened to you too, you’re going to feel so seen by Hunter McGrady’s Instagram story from this weekend.

Hunter McGrady/Instagram

“Just got the Foley Balloon put in because things were going slooooow and HOLY MOLY can I just say women are amazing. Literally we deserve awards. I’m sending you all awards ASAP whether you have had a baby or not you get an award.”

Her face and that caption just absolutely nail the whole Foley Bulb experience.

In case you’re not familiar with the Foley Bulb process: it’s a procedure where your doctor inserts a catheter into your cervix. One side of the catheter is deflated. Once inside your womb, your doctor inflates the balloon with a saline solution.

This puts pressure on your cervix and encourages dilation. The catheter is supposed to fall out once your cervix dilates to 3 centimeters. The giant saline vagina balloon can be used solo or alongside labor-inducing medication. Either way, it’s far from pleasant and because you’re barely dilated when you need it, there’s no epidural to help numb the extremely unpleasant sensation of having what feels like a dodgeball-sized water balloon inserted in there.

Luckily, things got better for McGrady (aka she got an epidural). The relief of that epidural is real, y’all. Especially after the Balloon Of Torture.

Hunter McGrady/Instagram

Not long after, she delivered her baby boy safely and shared an adorable photo.

“I’ve never known a love like this,” she wrote, sharing a sweet image of her baby holding her finger. “I’ve been enjoying and in pure bliss. Can’t wait to introduce you guys to this sweet boy.”

Hunter McGrady/Instagram

If you don’t follow Hunter McGrady on Instagram, you should. She’s the first plus-size model to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition and her account is full of good humor and body acceptance.

Congrats to the new mama! We feel your Foley Bulb pain and may it all be nothing but a distant memory (and a good war story).