Table Of Content

Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Preface to the Fourth Edition Amazing Birth Tales Our First Birth Anne’s Birth Jennifer Born at Colfax, California March 2, 1971, 12:20 p.m. Sara Jean’s Birthing Our First Hospital Birth The Farm’s Smallest Baby Pain and Endorphins I Learn About Men and Birth A Husband’s Story George’s Birth The Story of Christopher’s Birth Jeffrey’s Story An Account of a Miscarriage, Another Miscarriage, And Then a Baby Ernest’s Birth Maureen Noah’s Birthing Sally Kate’s Birthing Lancelot’s Birth Keif Oliver Louisa’s Birth Aaron Ross Breathing Margaret’s Birth Timothy, Andrew, and Angelo Figallo’s Births Christine’s Story Hannah’s Birth Rebirth Jody’s Birth Our Second Baby Timothy’s Birth Samuel Erinna—A Surprise Breech A Hospital Breech David’s Birthing Rear Entry Evan’s Story Twin Pipes Judy’s Stories Adoption on The Farm Doing Adoption Right Birth of Michael Willa May Twin Birthing on The Farm Leonna Eileen Abner Rena and Miguel’s Births Short Notice Owen’s Birth Tana’s Tale Katherine Sasha Melina Marie The Amish A Farmer’s Wife Facing the World The Long Haul Not for This World Shauna’s Birth Vanessa’s Birth Marilyn’s Birth Stories Avram’s Birthing David and Carolyn’s Birthing A Photo Essay A Telepathic Experience James Tells It Like It Was Angus Luigi Alice’s Birthing Paul Benjamin’s Birthing Jeffrey and Sarah’s Kids Lyle Amber To The Parents Taking Care of Yourself While You’re Pregnant You and Your Baby Instructions to Midwives 1. The Essential Anatomy of the Mother - THE FEMALE PELVIS 2. The Baby and Its Life-Support System - CONCEPTION AND THE GROWTH AND ... 3. Prenatal Care 4. Determining the Relation of the Baby to the Mother’s Pelvis 5. The Physiology and Management of Normal Labor at Home 6. Tending to the Baby 7. Follow-Up Care of the Mother and Newborn 8. Injuries and Repairs of the Pelvic Floor 9. Asphyxia in the Newborn Tristan’s Story 10. Breech Presentation and Delivery 11. Unusual Presentations and Positions 12. Multiple Pregnancy and Birth 13. Complications of Pregnancy 14. Diseases That May Complicate Pregnancy 15. Complications of Labor 16. Birth Injuries 17. Congenital Abnormalities 18. Tidbits on Energy and Attitude 19. Necessary Nursing Skills 20. Equipment and Supplies 21. Self-Care for Women 22. The Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative 23. Especially for Doctors Index © 1975, 1977, 1980, 1990, 2002 Book Publishing Company Published in the United States by Book Publishing Company P.O. Box 99 Summertown, TN 38483 1-888-260-8458 www.bookpubco.com All Rights Reserved Printed in Canada The tale on page 443 is reprinted by permission of Schoken Books Inc. from Tales of the Hasidim: Early Masters by Martin Buber. Copyright ©1947 by Schocken Books Inc. Copyright renewed ©1975 by Schocken Books Inc. ISBN 1-57067-104-4 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Gaskin, Ina May. Spiritual midwifery / Ina May Gaskin.-- 4th ed. p. ; cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-57067-104-4 1. Midwifery. 2. Natural childbirth. 3. Childbirth at home. [DNLM: 1. Midwifery. 2. Labor. WQ 160 G248s 2001] I. Title. RG950 .G37 2001 618.4’5--dc21 2002004992 Dedicated to Stephen and to all of the wonderful midwives I have worked with over the years. Preface to the Fourth Edition In preparing this fourth edition of Spiritual Midwifery, I decided to include several previously unpublished birth stories written by women whose care was provided by my midwifery partners and me. Most were written during the formative years of the birth culture that we established at The Farm community. Among these is the story told by the first woman I ever saw give birth. That she completed the act in her schoolbus camper in a campus parking lot of a major university makes her experience all the more interesting, memorable, and culturally significant. That she made labor and birth look graceful and easy was a beautiful gift to us who were lucky enough to witness her in action and to the hundred or more women who were traveling with us at the time. I am one of those fortunate midwives who has worked in the same community for my entire career. This has meant that my partners and I have served as midwives to two generations of women. Ever more frequently, we are attending births for some of the now grownup babies whose births we attended years ago. I have also included birth stories written by or about members of the Old Order Amish community located in the rural Tennessee area around The Farm. Women today continue to require the knowledge that birth still works and that every woman has her unique way of bringing her baby into the world. One good way to acquire this precious knowledge is to hear or read the birth stories of quite a few women who have given birth. A generation ago when I wrote the first edition of Spiritual Midwifery, I tried to make it the book I wanted when I was pregnant for the first time. My needs were pretty simple. I wanted to know what birth looked like. I wanted to know what it felt like and what would help it proceed the best way it could. My aim in this edition is the same. Some of the new material in this edition deals with labor induction and the various methods available today. I have included remarks on their safety relative to the option of waiting for labor to start spontaneously. I have also included information on surgical techniques for cesarean operations that have changed in recent years. Because one of these innovative techniques appears to have serious implications for future pregnancies of the women concerned, I believe that women need to be aware of the long-range risks associated with it. Two of the subjects which I discuss briefly in this edition—maternal death and postpartum depression—were not mentioned at all in earlier editions. As I have done more research into both and gained more experience as a midwife, I have learned that we cannot afford to ignore these subjects simply because they are unpleasant. To be ignorant is to live in a fool’s paradise. Those who are familiar with earlier editions will notice a change in this edition in the words applied to women’s private parts. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the power and influence of these words and the attitudes that we have towards them. Generally speaking, the more comfortable a woman is living in her body, the more easily she gives birth. Unfortunately, women are quite likely to absorb negative cultural attitudes about their private parts during early childhood. Vaginas are supposedly dirty (a false notion, by the way) and somehow lesser than the male organ. Many women grow up with the notion that their “dirty” organ is better left nameless. I think this is a bad idea. There is a long list of terms for the female member. Some prefer vagina as the most appropriate word, while others reject it because of its whiff of clinical detachment or their dislike of its Latin meaning (sheath). Some have introduced the Sanskrit word yoni into English usage, disliking both vagina and the entire long list of colloquial terms because of the pornographic or derogatory connotations they carry for some. As a student of words (my university degrees are in English), I tend to resist being told what words to use or not to use for my body parts. I don’t want to be restricted to having only a vagina or a yoni because all other words are considered too vulgar to be spoken or written. There is nothing vulgar about my body, and if some words suggest the opposite to many people, I think they need to hear these words proudly spoken (and see them written) enough that innocent words no longer possess such a crazy-making power over us. I just might want to have a cunt one day and a twat the next. On the third day, I might decide that pussy is my favorite word. Cunt, by the way, has an interesting meaning: wedge. It’s the triangular shape of the pubes that suggested the word. The same word root is used to describe something as non-sexual as the wedge-shaped writing of the Babylonian clay tablets, which was called cuneiform writing. Should we be excited about that? If a woman finds that a certain word makes her feel repulsed about her body, the question becomes how to deal with that feeling. One way is to avoid the word or to try to keep other people from using it. This method was very much in vogue as late as 1961, when it was actually illegal for the word cunt to appear in print. Eric Partridge’s A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, listed the word as c*nt. “Had the late Sir James Murray courageously included the word,” Partridge explained, “and spelt it in full, in the great O.E.D.1, the situation would be different; as it is, neither the Universal Dict. of English (1932) nor the S.O.D.** (1933) had the courage to include it.” Yet the O.E.D. gave “prick”; why this further injustice to women? I don’t think that men have a long list of words for their private parts that makes them feel embarrassed about themselves. With all this in mind, I have decided to undertake a new experiment in this edition of Spiritual Midwifery. With the hope of helping women to proudly reclaim all the words that refer to their reproductive organs, I will use various terms that did not appear in previous editions of the book. This is because I like dealing with language so that it works for us rather than against us. I’ll be happy to listen to your feedback about this experiment in changing our attitudes about our bodies in a positive way. When the first editions of Spiritual Midwifery were published, there was no certification for midwives who entered the profession without first becoming a nurse. My partners and I are now Certified Professional Midwives, a credential which is administered by NARM, the North American Registry of Midwives. (See Resources for address and further info, page 472.) As has been usual in earlier editions, I have updated the statistics at the back of the book to reflect recent years of practice. —Ina May Gaskin, CPM