Reduce unnecessary cesareans, new book

From our Nov. 2020 newsletter

Entering November for me is entering a meditation on gratitude. This past month many of my dreams have come true, a full-length book, the Spinning Babies® 2020 World Confluence, and a super talented team running Spinning Babies®. But most deliciously this season brought a grandchild, our 8th, and last night I got to cuddle and snuggle under the ripening moon.

In times when many people’s dreams are stressed and strained from economic, travel, and health restrictions, it’s bold to affirm the abundance of many years of work towards the outcomes we’ve experienced here. Within the constraint is sometimes the blessing, too. The strains of the lockdown in so many places make it hard to focus on the good.

Let’s count our blessings. More birds flutter by my window probably perhaps because more hatchlings thrived when pollution was lower than it’s been in decades. The path through the woods in the park near my house is wider showing that many neighbors besides me are enjoying nature. My carbon footprint is tippy-toes now, though I have one more flight this year. I’ve learned more word skills since I can’t show what I mean as easily. I’ve learned more internet skills. I can still fit in one more pair of sweatpants.

Having to stay home allowed a book to be written. I joined a great program called Author Incubator and got to work. It was a fast gestation and remarkably the book came out the same time as our Spinning Babies® 2020 World Confluence, a virtual conference attended by over 800 birth professionals, which will be available for new registrations in another month or so.

And most amazingly, my manuscript and my grandchild emerged the same day!

We face two pandemics in my country; this virus and systemic racism. A healing crisis rages. One blessing is that more white ears are listening to more Black and Brown voices. We’ve been making progress in organizational shifts and picking up the pace at it. Part of our movement towards a greater expression of justice is more care and accountability around our promotion and use of the Rebozo, the long woven scarf used in ways to add comfort to pregnancy and ease in labor. Our plans for 2021 include more concrete efforts in Spinning Babies® to reduce birth disparities based on race. I’m enthused by the momentum which was shared in a couple of our conference sessions. Certain sessions will have excerpts available for the public to expand understanding of our efforts to our community.

The other need we’re focusing on is the need of the midwife and labor and delivery nurse for physiological birth know-how and also, “know-why!” I love to see the shine in a nurse’s face with their exclamation, “It makes so much sense!” And I am making strides to fill the gap expressed when they say, “Why didn’t we learn this in school?”

I’m beyond all expectations in the popularity of our new book, Changing Birth on Earth: A midwife and nurse’s guide to using physiology to avoid another unnecessary cesarean. So many helped that book get written and be promoted. The reviews hold my confidence like a doula’s reassuring words.

What about a book for parents? Well, we need a foundation for that wave of change coming. So we want hospitals to have a chance to get ready for the requests that parents will be bringing in larger and larger numbers.

Belly Mapping® Workbook serves our parents now, along with our video Spinning Babies® Parent Class which is included the virtual course given by our Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educators. We have eBooks to help parents with activities to help breech and transverse babies turn head down, plus our Quick Reference Guide, which while made for midwives and nurses, is being used by parents in conjunction with the Parent Class video. Daily Essentials is still blowing people’s minds with easing birth when used from 30 weeks on (Parent Class is also a game-changer for labor issues).

We are turning ourselves around to thrive in our new global dynamics. And like a pregnant parent who asks us, “Now that my baby is head down [they may say, after using the Helping Your Breech Baby Turn ebook or following the website descriptions] should I keep doing the exercises to keep baby head down? We often have an intensive initial phase of action but if we don’t follow through with a daily bit of “balance” we will slip back to old habits. It’s only human. So we work in community and collaborate or share socially what our intentions are. This way we find our people and unite in a shared vision.

For us, balance provides a world in which parents understand and do things to enhance their physiology so it functions above the constraints of gravity and activities that may have reduced room or function in the pelvis. For professionals, it’s a practice that is empowered to “physiology first” before force-based options such as breaking the water or inducing for discomfort or dates.

Understanding physiology as it pertains to childbirth is what we do. We’re happy to be sharing our discoveries with you.

Birth Tip

This month’s birth tip from Gail is on whether or not it is recommended to continue doing exercises after using our techniques to help baby get in a head-down position.

Question from Community Member

“I purchased the Helping Your Breech Baby Turn eBook and my baby successfully turned head down at 35 weeks. Yay! I am now 36 weeks. Is there any harm in continuing to do daily or twice daily Forward-Leaning Inversions and Sacral Releases? I love how I feel after both of these maneuvers, but I don’t want baby to leave her head-down position.”

Gail’s Response

“In general, I highly recommend that pregnant parents keep up the daily FLI and occasional (even daily if you like) standing sacral release.

I hope you continue daily activities to increase range of motion and frequent body balancing techniques because sleeping or other resting postures in a habitual position that compensated for an old twist can sometimes return the pattern of the twist. This is habitual posturing. It is common but not absolute that this little return to imbalance can show up on labor as a stall or pain that you may be able to bypass by keeping up with the activities.

What I mean by “frequent” can be daily but also 1-3 times a week, as you are able and feel that it is right in your body. You might do Forward-leaning Inversion once a day on most days and Side-lying Release a few times a week as you have help to keep your hip stacked.”

New Book

We have been just blown away by the incredible response to Gail Tully’s new book Changing Birth on Earth: A midwife and nurse’s guide to using physiology to avoid another unnecessary cesarean! Looking for birth know-how in the cesarean era? This book shows you a simple and quick way for highly-trained professionals to:

• Avoid cesareans for posterior presentations and fetal malpositions
• Rediscover birth anatomy with techniques that assist labor progress
• Identify labor dystocia before baby’s heart rate shows distress
• Choose smarter birth positions to shorten pushing and reduce tearing
• Help your patients and colleagues and, together, stop the cesarean pandemic

Grab your copy today! Available now on Kindle and in paperback on Amazon.

2020 TRUST Award

Congratulations to Gail Tully, CPM, creator of Spinning Babies®, and author, for winning the 2020 TRUST Award in the Health and Well-Being category! The 2020 Women’s Health Leadership Trust Awards celebrated 18 Minnesota women in health care with four awards focused on local leaders who are advancing the health and well-being of individuals, organizations, and communities. Click here to watch the Award Ceremony from October 13th.

Special thanks to Courtney Nelson, Executive Director of Women’s Health Leadership Trust for the award, and Julie Burton of ModernWell for bringing us together.

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