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Complying with the Birth Plan

pregnant couple speaking with doctor

The last two posts have focused on listening to the birth giver. We continued listening by returning to the birth plan as a diagnostic tool (see previous post). Now we see where and how we, as providers, can comply with their birth plan for the purpose of better birth outcomes.   Do birth plans evoke […]

Communicating the Body Sense

pregnant couple posterior labor begin abdominal lift

Observing an Invitation to Act Let us approach the labor with a calm, quiet, observation. We observe the response to contractions. When observing signs of a disconnection to labor because of pain or low morale or a struggles to self regulate as an invitation to act, we may introduce a gentle suggestion for a technique. There […]

Too Tired to Try Spinning Babies?

pregnant woman and birth team

“I am a doula and need your help. Very often by the time my women get into hospital they are too tired to cooperate and try to do Spinning Babies exercises. What do you suggest in this scenario?” Dear Doula, Let’s explore the use of Spinning Babies® as a physiological approach to relationships with parents […]

Reflections on 2018 – Monthly Update

Spinning Babies Phyllis Klaus has been an inspiration in our work. She and Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer Tammy Ryan will present When Survivors Give Birth on January 13 in Palo Alto, CA. Don't miss it!

December of 2018. May I congratulate you on coming to the finish of a year of growth. The year began with insight and ends with insight, but the middle was a dig, wasn’t it? This year saw slightly better and improving awareness of health disparities confronting black mothers and babies in the US. More doula […]

Formula? or Wild Food?

pregnant woman writing a list

The title of this post is a play on words about choosing between a protocol or not for what to do for an unusual situation at a birth. Formula or wild? I was recently at Karen Strange’s Neonatal Resuscitation Workshop. I so enjoy Karen’s brilliance in taking the out-of-hospital midwife or assistant through overarching values […]

When Not to Use Spinning Babies® Techniques

You can always “use” the concepts taught on this website. Spinning Babies® as an approach for comfort in pregnancy and ease in birth can be a way of seeing what is going on. We can take our approach for noticing fetal position as a clue to choose body balance and labor easing activities. When someone […]

Bums Up

Gail breech tilt

Flip a Breech? What we teach here at Spinning Babies® is a gentle, body balancing approach. We begin with the principles of Spinning Babies; Balance before Gravity and Movement. For pregnancy self-care or things to do at home, we include five main techniques to turn a breech baby head down. These are all on our […]

Where’s the Physiology?

Spinning Babies Hi, Spinning Babies® Community. I was excited about the collaboration of Gloria Esegbono, OB, and Joy Palmer, Midwife, on a hashtag that also speaks to us: #WheresThePhysiology. Dr. Gloria says, “The common catchphrase today is 'Where’s the Evidence?', not just for obstetricians but for midwives. I’m going to tell you today, there is no evidence. I hope you understand it’s just physiological common sense. We don’t need a big RCT (Randomized Control Trial, a research approach that chooses some people to do the intervention and some not to and then compares outcomes) to tell us this is the right thing to do for mothers and babies. Okay? So let’s change the hashtag from #WherestheEvidence to #WheresthePhysiology and that’s where we really begin to improve our practice.” I met Gloria Esegbono in Brazil recently and stars began to glitter in my eyes. She is a birth hero that is deep in the doing. We were sitting in the speaker’s lounge at the huge Siaparto conference in São Paulo at the invitation of the visionary Ana Cris Duarte. Both of us were pouring over our slideshows for upcoming presentations. Tammy Ryan was in the room with me, my Approved Trainer who began the Spinning Babies® Approved Trainers program at Spinning Babies® with a wish to take physiological birth skills to Kenya and Nigeria where she helplessly held a woman dying in her arms. There is a promise here, in meeting Gloria, a hope, that we need a dedicated administrative assistant level volunteer or group to release the potential between Art of Birth and Spinning Babies… I’m opening to that. Life amusingly contains the paradox. For example, I’m put in mind of another birth hero who is upholding the Evidence-base in childbirth. We also love Rebecca Dekker, PhD and RN who seeks to offer the evidence tools to uplift birth care standards and respect in provider care for birthing families. She has a tremendous reach and personally invited me to speak at her conference. Unfortunately, due to travel, I missed her email and she filled the spot. I'm just grateful to know she was thinking of me, who began a movement with no evidence and yet nurses and midwives in the hospitals around the world choose to move Spinning Babies into their own standard of care through their grassroots application of our approach. Rebecca “believe in putting the evidence back in the hands of the people who need it the most: birthing people and their and families.” She sifts through the studies and interprets it for the physiological best approach supported by research and reports on it at Evidence Based Birth®. Dr. Gloria Esegbono is a London obstetrician with a far-reaching vision of physiological birth in action. She’s partnered with Febromed, a birth equipment company, and The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, of which is a “fellow” in the United Kingdom. They paid for a presentation she and midwife, Joy Palmer, presented on Advances in Birth Positions. Together they put two important points together for us in their work. With an open mind, we can support the truth upheld in both perspectives. Both are moving our work forward. Thanks for reading here at Spinning Babies. Please share our emails/posts, please share your stories! You move me forward! Sincerely, Gail Tully Enjoy this post? You also might like: Cesarean Rates Call for Beyond Border Solutions The Evidence Base Birthkeeper: Penny Simkin Birth Positions - Monthly Update Upcoming Workshops

Hi, Spinning Babies® Community. I was excited about the collaboration of Gloria Esegbono, OB, and Joy Palmer, Midwife, on a hashtag that also speaks to us: #WheresThePhysiology. Dr. Gloria says, “The common catchphrase today is ‘Where’s the Evidence?’, not just for obstetricians but for midwives. I’m going to tell you today, there is no evidence. […]

Origin Story

Gail's drawing

Let’s return to basics. This information will help you when a birth colleague asks you what you are doing when you are doing techniques suggested on the Spinning Babies® website.   Why is one person’s birth easier and another’s birth harder when both share the intent for a physiological birth?   A hypothesis tests the […]

Stretching Types

Sidelying Release

I’m often finding myself self-tightening when I hear my colleague say “stretch the ligament.” But my reaction is not logical. Just five minutes before I’ve said the same thing: Stretch! So why the visceral reaction to the word stretch? While saying it, I know I’m describing a physio-neurological response that will lengthen the muscle fibers […]

Pain Pattern Before Engagement – Monthly Update

Abdominal Lift and Tuck

Pain Pattern Before Engagement When labor is active – contractions are strong and frequent – but baby remains high, check to see if baby remains high in the pelvis or is yet above the pelvis. At -3 Station, baby’s head is right at the entrance to the pelvis, the inlet. The provider typically finds this […]

Cesarean Rates Call for Beyond Border Solutions

pregnant woman with doctor

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology and other nations’ leading birth organizations and the social organizations who seek to guide their practice with statistical and ethical considerations are working more collaboratively now to reduce the uncontrollable cesarean section. A recent review shows “cesarean section rates increased from 22.8% to 42.2% in Latin American and the […]

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