In this month’s update:
- Our founder Gail Tully announces plans for online courses for providers and parents, new ebooks, and a new website.
- An incredible birth story with a family finding out baby is breech and having a birth team to meet the need.
- Tips from Gail on how to have an empowered breech pregnancy and creating a positive birth team.
- Upcoming events including our World Confluence – Early Bird pricing ends Feb 14!
Entering 2020 With a Clear Vision
Spinning Babies® has entered 2020. Clear 20/20 vision. Everyone’s still talking about New Year’s goals using this happy metaphor. Clear vision depends on things being in place, stable, moving but not too shaky to see—in focus. In celebration of such a clear year, we’re tending to the health of what we conceived of last year. We’re gestating brilliance and creating a secure nest for the message we labor to “birth” into the world.
We want to communicate with those in the world that want our clear perspective — those whose missions of maternity care sync with ours, the pregnant parents gestating our next generation. You want a clear path, and we want to help.
This year, we will have online courses for providers and parents, new ebooks, and a new website. I want to share the best stories of how Spinning Babies® is helping your births and the best stories of when a baby doesn’t turn but parents find empowerment through the compassionate attention of what is present in the now of their birth experience. Check out Ferenc’s story of his baby’s breech birth in this month’s update.
Love isn’t always folded into a familiar package. Surprises often turn into blessings. Being present and open and trusting in the process of life’s unfolding lessons makes miracles available every day in every manner of birthing.
At Spinning Babies®, we offer ways to connect with yourself and with your baby through daily activities and body-balancing techniques. In doing so, we hope to empower you to achieve your best birth outcome—one in which you are present and compassionate and actively involved. You don’t have to be fearless or totally informed. You can be where you are at, now and on the day of birth.
Breathing in, and sighing out, long and slow; your body has everything you need to know.
Birth Story
Ferenc attended the Spinning Babies® Workshop with Jennifer Walker for maternity care providers in Budapest, Hungary. Ferenc is an osteopath, and his wife was eager to volunteer at our workshop as the pregnant model because she herself was soon to give birth and their baby was in the breech position. Calm and trusting, they were not worried that baby was breech but were eager to try techniques that may allow baby to spontaneously turn themselves head down.
The Full Spectrum of a Birthing Father’s Emotions
Ferenc, Márk’s dad, wrote:
“It is said that birth makes such physiological changes in a woman’s body that she finds new energies after her delivery. I don’t know whether this has ever been researched in fathers, too . . . maybe I am alert and awake from similar energies. Since [my son is] two days [old and I write this] at 1 a.m. now.
On the 7th of January at 10:17 a.m., Emese brought our son, Márk, into this world.
I am not able to tell why the birth went smooth despite of the circumstances.
Was it Emese’s conscious mental and physical preparation since long months? Was it the oil for the perineum? Was it the Spinning Babies® approach? Was it the moxa stick Jennifer gave us?
Finding out baby is breech and having a birth team to meet the need
At labor, it turned out that baby Márk’s position was breech, and it was not possible to externally invert him since he was already so low.
We got really upset (despair), but we did our job with Emese in the alternative birthing room of Szent Imre Hospital, Budapest. Only when our midwife told us specific words then we calmed down. She said Emese can naturally birth Márk.
During the whole pregnancy we prepared that we would not need [to change to a doctor’s care], but in this case, I found [the doctor’s] support highly essential . . .maybe it really was. He helped Emese to naturally birth Márk after 10 hours of labor, no episiotomy, no tears. Márk had his umbilical cord 3 times around his neck. So far, all medical checkups find mom and baby healthy.
As for me… I was also born on the 7th of January at 10:17 a.m.
Waves of emotions come and go. I am writing these lines with tears in my eyes, although I have already told this story at least twenty times so far.
I was told earlier how it feels as a father to experience all these we cannot form into words . . . To fall into despair, but stay strong and supportive, because you are the man. You fight with your tears because of your worries, seeing that your partner’s strength is limited, but in the next moment she shows you something like an Amazon you have never ever seen before… and then, in the end, to see how she becomes a mother from a pregnant woman, and we become a family.
I think life has never been shown to be more beautiful than this.
All men should be there and see how his partner roams around all spectrums of pain and strength. I am deeply grateful for this experience! And I am so grateful that I did not have to “sit like a trashcan” [Anna’s comment: this is a Hungarian expression for being silent, like someone with no competence] in the corner because I don’t know how to help Emese.
When nothing was good, Shaking the Apple Tree was always a jolly joker.”
Tip for Breech Pregnancy
Knowing your self empowers you to create a positive birth team. Gail Tully invites an awareness of the body as a barometer in choosing between a vaginal birth and cesarean. The story of the breech-birthing couple invites us to consider this through the lens of breech fetal position.
What is comfortable in the choice between vaginal breech birth and a planned cesarean? And how much does one step out of their own comfort zone to choose if they don’t feel 100% comfortable with the support of the birth professionals or cultural stories around breech?
Find your sweet spot by checking in with your body, your mind, and your baby. Some people find decision-making easier after they explore options. Talking to a breech-skilled doctor or midwife can be a way to make the surprise of finding out baby is breech less overwhelming even if a vaginal breech birth isn’t a goal. Some will have the opportunity for safe care for their breech baby, and some won’t be able to find a suitable provider in their proximity in time. A very few will travel to seek a vaginal breech birth provider. But knowing what’s available and what the risks or safeties are among the options can clarify choices and allow realistic decision-making.
The Sweet Spot Is the Center of All These Considerations
The baby is in good health and is full term. The birth giver has confidence, as well as an intimacy with their body and the processes of both boundary-making and letting go. The parents can take their questions of “What if?” and “Is it safe?” to a provider who answers honestly, without strong bias or patronizing answers. Some bias can be expected in the topic of breech because vaginal breech birth requires great reflection and honesty for a provider as well as the opportunity to learn skills they weren’t taught in school. (Providers are not taught adequate breech skills in the US or in many other countries where the US has exported physiological ignorance and dependency upon surgical birth.)
So the sweet spot is where self-response-ability—with daily body balancing, exploration of resources, and conversations with skilled providers—allows a true choice in vaginal breech birthing.
When Surety Isn’t Certain
In many places and for many people today, a cesarean may seem like or be the safer choice in breech birth since it’s hard to find a provider with both willingness and skills to assist with a vaginal breech birth. Parents may feel a lot of “no” coming their way, but they may also find that “no” is said within themselves. Then an agreement between parent and provider is straightforward. When “no” is external but “yes” is the internal response, opening up to other avenues will be necessary. A new choice in provider might be made, or alternatively, holding firm with one’s choice even with the current team. It’s important that a contest of wills doesn’t substitute for a true agreement. Parents who don’t have a clear synergy with their provider’s belief about breech have to guide themselves by constant reflection on how their gut feels about their choices. For instance, a tight chest might indicate an unmet need longing to be heard. Some people, like Ferenc and his wife, feel the calmness within and, with a gentle determination, create their own birth miracle using a provider willing and ready to serve them.
This month, be open and balanced to empower your choice within your list of options. Tuning in and tending to your physiology is the best place to start.
“My breech baby just turned head down!”
Feeling relief and gratitude is possible.
Does your doctor or midwife require baby to be head down before labor? Do they do cesarean birth for all breeches? Pregnant and hoping to avoid surgery? This eBook is for you.
Upcoming Events
Register now for Boston, MA and save!
Interested in our Boston, MA Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educator Training? Get $100 off! Early bird pricing ends on Mar 1. Register while you still can get the discount and join us for a four-day exclusive training that prepares you to teach a skill-based, hands-on parent class that can transform your childbirth education and prenatal yoga teaching.
- Get listed on SpinningBabies.com as a Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educator!
- Support pregnant people seeking parent educators teaching the Spinning Babies® approach to easier birth.
Did you know we have a 3 installment payment plan for the training? Simply choose “monthly payment” in the application. Don’t miss your chance to get your ticket before the price increases. Register today!
Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner Workshop
Join the Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner Listing with our advanced course! The Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner Workshop is 4 full days of hands-on practice that will teach you advanced skills to promote body balance for fetal positioning and pregnancy comfort, and breech body balancing. Embody our paradigm for fetal positioning in this clinical course for professionals. San Diego, CA is sold out. Limited seats for Caloundra, Australia. Register now to get Early Bird savings!
2020 World Confluence – Early Bird ends soon!
If you’re a childbirth professional or work with expecting families, invest in yourself by learning about important topics from the perspective of the Spinning Babies® paradigm at our 2020 World Confluence in Caloundra, QLD, Australia. Meet and hear from an incredible line-up of international speakers and our very own Spinning Babies® Approved Trainers as they present about informed consent, breech birth, and physiological approach to birth. We are offering pre- and post-conference Spinning Babies® Workshops and advanced trainings.
Not only is there an Early Bird discount, but you also can get an additional 10-15% OFF when you register for 2 or more events. Early Bird ends Feb 14. Don’t miss out! Learn more and register.
AWHONN California Section 2020 Conference
Spinning Babies®️ is honored to partner with AWHONN California Section. Gail Tully, founder of Spinning Babies, will be presenting at their 2020 Conference in Long Beach, CA. Learn more here!
Workshops
Australia
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Austria
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Belgium
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Brazil
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Canada
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Denmark
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Estonia
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Indonesia
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Ireland
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Israel
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Italy
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Netherlands
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New Zealand
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Switzerland
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United Kingdom
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United States
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See all upcoming events on our calendar here.
