Growing (Spinning) Babies!

Spread the breakthrough message of Spinning Babies. Spinning Babies eases birth by helping baby rotate more easily through the pelvis. Less pain and intervention is readily possible. As the Spinning Babies Lady (that’s me on the left). I began a personal mission to make birth easier for mothers, babies, AND their doctors, nurses, midwives and […]

Bottom’s Up

Last night I was with the wonderful Adrienne Caldwell as she led a small group of enthusiasts and parents through a hands-on protocol of massage techniques for Breech Balancing. Wait, pregnancy massage like relaxation?  No, massage is working with muscles and ligaments that have shortened from living in gravity to return to normal length and […]

Is Down Dog the Same as Forward-leaning Inversion?

I love the yoga position called Down Dog, but it is not a Forward-leaning Inversion! Down Dog in yoga is good for lengthening hamstrings and opening shoulders when done correctly. Knees can also be bent. Down Dog offers a different set of benefits than Forward-leaning Inversion. Downward Dog and the Forward-leaning Inversion (FLI) accomplish different […]

Olive Marie’s Elevator Birth: Using the Abdominal Lift & Tuck to Engage Baby

Melissa Thornton shares her fourth baby’s birth story. She wouldn’t have found it so funny if she didn’t have other births to compare: “I will start by saying that this pregnancy has been a major blessing from day one. I was sick in the beginning but after that felt great. I slept great, gained the […]

Happy Breech-Cephalic Twin Birth

 Midwife Jewel shares a happy birth story: “Kathryn came to me at 8+6 wks gestation. At the time her fundal height was more like 15-16 weeks. We talked about possibility of twins, dates being off, how she often measured large for dates early in her other pregnancies. She wanted to wait until 20 weeks for […]

…With an Epidural

Can Spinning Babies be used with an epidural? “I put many of the techniques taught during Friday’s class into practice today. The momma I was waiting for last week was induced today. She got an epidural before I arrived. Used the peanut ball with knee in and down, SLR, hands and knees, and within minutes […]

Birthful Podcast with Gail and Adriana

What is the key to an easier birth? How do we get there? Adriana Lozada interviewed Gail on her wonderful Mirthful Podcast. Birthful.com/podcastspinningbabies/ Hear the inside scoop on the beliefs I share through the message of Spinning Babies. You’ll hear about birth anatomy in a totally new way. More than the basics are given, so […]

Preventing the Epidural Labor Stall

Here’s a picture from an Austin, Texas Spinning Babies Workshop of a labor progress technique shared by Dr. Diane Peterson, OB. Purpose: Engage the Baby into the pelvis when mother is on an epidural and can’t stand up for the Abdominal Lift and Pelvic Tilt. Gail was a doula in Minneapolis, long ago before she […]

Timeline for Fetal Position

Babies follow a natural progression to settle into the final birth position. Well, not exactly final. So I call it, the starting position for labor. It almost always changes for baby to rotate through the pelvis. Oxorn and Foote, Obstetric text book authors, state that most babies are in position at 34 weeks gestation. This […]

When Should Baby Be in Position?

Babies follow a natural progression to settle into the final birth position. Well, not exactly final. So I call it, the starting position for labor. It almost always changes for baby to rotate through the pelvis. Oxorn and Foote, Obstetric textbook authors, state that most babies are in position at 34 weeks gestation. This means […]

You Can Tell If Your Baby Is Engaged

Is Baby Engaged or Not? Sometimes the posterior baby’s head seems low in the pelvis when checked by vaginal exam. The nurse, doctor, or midwife feels the dome of the head and it doesn’t wiggle. So, they think, the head is not ballottable, and that equals engaged. Therefore, the head is engaged. But that estimation […]

Engaging Baby in Labor

Engagement of the baby into the pelvic inlet (brim) is important because to fit through the pelvis, baby has to get into the pelvis first. Engagement is when the widest part of baby’s head enters the true brim of the pelvis.   Figure 1. Diagram depicting the fetal head immediately prior to engagement. The straight black […]