Amusement & Gratitude: What Ina May Teaches Me

“…women’s bodies contain the knowledge and the fortitude to bring children into this world” 

Cindy Crawford in foreword of Gurmukh’s book Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful

If you haven’t yet met Ina May Gaskin, you really must. This woman is one of our nation’s most inspirational and impactful midwives. From her experiences with naturally-birthing mothers on the Farm in Tennessee, traveling the world to host dialogues and give lectures, and her consistent statistical data and advocate work to lower maternal death rates, I believe Ina May has developed an extra-sensory perception to women’s bodies and their birthing capacities. Or perhaps she always possessed this natural propensity and followed her life’s calling with surrender. Either way, she has greatly compelled me in my own journey to recognize my body’s strengths and trust in its natural birthing capacity.

While reading her literature (I include a list of those books of hers that I have read and duly recommend at the end), I made a review of what I observed to be the four main reasons why women have a more difficult, and often painful, delivery in a hospital setting (and thus grow the belief that they couldn’t do it any other way if it is indeed that hard in such a monitored environment). See if these make sense to you. Here they are:

1) Women don’t eat or are denied food and drink during labor

In her book Spiritual Midwifery, Ina May says, “Many times I have seen a few bites of food make the difference in whether or not a woman had the strength to push her baby out without the assistance of forceps or vacuum extractor” (p. 338). Hopefully this trend to deny food in hospitals is diminishing with reason and time, but it seems that some settings are still quite antiquated in their philosophy. Or it just simply isn’t as easy for a woman to eat and drink when she is hooked up to a fetal monitor, catheter and intravenous drugs. Ina May, in Guide to Childbirth, relates many birth stories in the first chapter. Many of these women ate freely. She then juxtaposes this in a later chapter with the story of a woman whose partner had to smuggle in a sandwich to her hospital room without the medical staff seeing. These extra nutrients helped give her the last bit of strength she needed before transitioning and pushing.

Water or electrolyte-balancing drinks must be kept available, according to Ina May, as well. These will keep the birthing mama hydrated but also help her to pee regularly which keep the urethra from becoming swollen. The frequent trips to the bathroom can also help with the baby’s further descent into the pelvic girdle.

Many times birth can last for a day or more. Therefore, it is imperative that we all eat and drink to stay hydrated and nourished. If women are denied food or drink during hospital births, this will further contribute to the imposed limits of the ticking time bomb. When women eat less, their energy drops. When their energy drops, they can become exhausted. When they become exhausted, labor often becomes less effective. And when labor is less effective, interventions become awfully tempting and often highly encouraged by hospital staff. But eating does not harm the baby or the mother; it is that simple.

2) She has not been instructed to empty her bladder

I can’t imagine an 8 hour flight without using the airplane’s bathroom, let alone a 24-hour labor without peeing! But I suppose it can happen, especially if I were trying to race a time limit at the hospital or was hooked up to IV’s or didn’t feel comfortable in the sterile environment or was just focused on getting through rushes (what Ina May and her partners call “contractions”). That is why it is important to have a caretaker (a midwife, doctor, doula or otherwise) who reminds you that it is okay and natural to go to the bathroom.  

As Ina May taught me, going pee is imperative because it allows the necessary room for the baby’s head to pass through the pelvis and can also prevent laceration during the second stage of labor. Think about how uncomfortable it can be to exercise or stand at your job when your bladder is full or you are constipated. That is because your organs are bigger and pushing up against other organs. Imagine if your full bladder is pushing up against your uterus and baby! It may only be by a slight amount, but it could be that slight amount that makes a difference between an open enough space for the baby’s head and a constricted one.  

The summer before I conceived Rose (July 2018), I went on a canoe and camping trip with friends. On this trip, we would canoe for a few miles each day, find an island fit for camping, and then set up our tents for the evening. On this trip, there of course were no bathrooms or port-o-Johns as is custom with outdoor adventures. But on top of this, I had also gotten my period, one of the last before getting pregnant, actually. So I was forced not only to pee and poo in the wild, but to bleed out there too! At first it was really uncomfortable to retreat and find a shaded, sandy area to squat over and get messy in. But then I realized when it was all over, how natural I felt. It was like Mother Earth was preparing me for the ultimately grounding and nature-filled experience of giving birth! There were so many signs on that trip, like the multiple dragonflies that landed on me, which I interpret now as foreshadowing symbols of my pregnancy to come. Additionally, I remember the story of when I was a little one of 4, my sister and I wouldn’t go poo anywhere in the Disney World parks except our own hotel room. That’s because it felt like a surrogate home for the week. So if going pee and poo in a public bathroom is still not something you’re comfortable with, then I highly recommend considering a home birth and having some experience before you plan to get pregnant (if you’re planning) that really puts you in communion with nature, like a camping trip...while you’re menstruating.

3) The positioning is unnatural.

I have heard multiple times, and it always entertains me, that a birthing mother was turned on her back during the time when a King wished to be able to more fully see his baby prince being born. I don’t know if that is necessarily true or if Ina May could endorse that, but I do think there are some true threads to that myth. In hospitals, women are most often on their backs, I gather, because of the monitor, catheter, and IV’s they are hooked up to, which make walking around, getting on the floor, going to the bathroom, and even resting quite uncomfortable. Also, interventions with forceps and vacuum extractors are much more prevalent in hospital births, as are Cesarean operations (our country currently has one of the highest C-section rates of 33%). These tools and interventions transform birth into surgery, thus making birth on one’s back the only option. And even when hospital rooms have tubs, they rarely are allowed to let women give birth in them, which would greatly help with softening her tissues and easing her pain.

But as is true with dancing and with sex, positioning is everything. It may take numerous changes in positions to find the one that best helps the baby to descend, open the vagina, and work her way out. Options are limitless from walking, squatting, wading in water, dancing; one mother in Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth was amazed at how she gave birth on her tiptoes while squatting at the same time! It is important that we work with gravity, not against it, and that we use positions that allow us to use our own body force to its fullest potential.

Ina May does a great job of reminding me that we are mammals. She shares the video of an elephant mom giving birth to her baby elephant (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoDE2jwHof4). A method of birthing, called the Bradley Method, also highlights our animal prowess and natural birthing capabilities, in case you are looking for a childbirth class already seeped in this language. If you grew up on a farm with livestock or ever watched your dog have puppies, you will already have an idea of the lack of intervention needed at an animal’s birth. The same is true for less medicalized, less industrialized cultures, such as indigenous tribes. They use a host of positions and props (scarves, chairs, trees with hammocks and ropes) to help relax the mother’s body and aid her abilities. In these cultures, I suspect that women spend more time during the day interacting with nature, including animals, and doing work that requires prolonged bouts of walking. All of these factors aid in the body’s ability to be aware of its natural potential. A modern-day Kundalini yoga instructor for prenatal mamas in California, Gurmukh, highlights this aspect in her book, Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful when she says, “One of the best exercises you can do along with yoga is walk. Just walk!” (p. 151).

Furthermore, Ina May accentuates something she calls the MONKEY SELF. This term refers to any innate part of us that operates without being overpowered by the chaotic, analytical mind. Basically, monkeys in labor don’t think about technology, time restraints, what others think of their bodies, or feel ashamed for letting their bowels release while pushing. Her biggest recommendation is to go back to that inner child who imagined herself as a lion or eagle or dog and become that animal again as you birth your baby. Make deep growling, mooing or moaning sounds that vibrate the lowest parts of you, move from side to side like the elephant in that video, and relax your forehead for ultimate release (reference to Ina May’s Birth Matters here). As I write this, I am about to start a choreography project with college students for their Spring production of Jane of the Jungle, a show for young audiences which teaches them to embrace the transitions their bodies go through during puberty. The main device in this musical? The teenagers’ bodies develop animal features such as spots, stripes, and plumage.

4) She needs to be “getting and giving some” which is the awesomely psychedelic and spot-on 70's term for being connected and compassionate.

This point from Ina May is a bit more spiritual and metaphysical and thus, requires a more implicit understanding and overall sensing to really embrace it. The idea here comes with the understanding that there is an elemental life force of energy emanating from us at every moment involving affection and compassion which we can radiate if we are in tune to it.

My best friend, who is a theater director, gave me a great way to think of this life force after he returned from a Michael Chekhov training.Chekhov, a director, actor and theater practitioner who developed his own method of acting, taught that we can radiate a force or charisma to others simply by projecting outward our inner energy. The story goes that on an interview with Marilyn Monroe, who was a direct student of Chekhov, a reporter was astonished that they were walking down a busy street unperturbed by the usual throngs of people begging for Monroe's attention and autographs. The interviewer pointed this out to Marilyn, who simply said, "Oh, that's because I have it turned off right now. Wait a moment." She then proceeded to switch it on and radiate out her inner light; all of a sudden, people on the street began to take notice again in her and bombard them with requests.

The great news is that as pregnant women we have a deep well of this radiating energy from the wisdom that having two souls within us can provide; this well is self-replenishing and always available to draw from. That is why yoga and meditation or any spiritual practice of your choosing is so essential during pregnancy.

Ina May illustrates that during labor, giving and getting some comes in many forms. It could include touch, caresses, hugs, kisses, positive energy, or laughter, all which stimulate the natural production of oxytocin and endorphins (which, like in sex, bring beautiful blood flow to the genitalia and help create the openness and softness needed to labor a child to this world). If you have a partner, you two can create this atmosphere together by kissing through rushes and filling the body with pleasurable neurotransmitters, just like you do when you’re making love. However, for women who will be giving birth as a single woman, this possibility, I believe, should also be explored. It has become a recent, pressing focus and concern of mine, and I do hope that throughout this experience I can come back to you with empowering ways in which women can have pleasurable births on their own.

Ina May and her partner Stephen suggest creating an atmosphere of AMUSEMENT and GRATITUDE in your birthing environment, which could be a lot easier in the comfort of your home but not impossible in a medical setting. You simply need to connect yourself to the things that make you vibrant and grounded, such as music you vibe with, symbols that inspire you, scents such as those from burning essential oils that soothe you, and most importantly, people that you can trust deeply. In this way, not only can those aiding your birth give you support and love, but you can send that gratitude right back at them, creating the positively energetic environment necessary to bring your created life into the earthly realm. And amusement, well, that can be created through jokes your midwife makes, making funny noises, and pure unadulterated laughter.

All of these more esoteric considerations aid in something seemingly scientific (but of course gained from observing traditional cultures throughout history), which Ina May has coined the SPHINCTER LAW.

Basically, “Sphincters are circular muscular groups that ordinarily remain contracted so the openings of certain organs are held closed until something needs to pass through” (Guide to Childbirth, p. 170); these aid in excretion, labor, and birth. We are possibly most familiar with our anal sphincter because hopefully pooping happens daily. When we are in an unfamiliar place or somebody scares us as we are trying to go to the bathroom, what happens? Usually something we colloquially call “prairie dogging” when our no. 2 gets sucked back into our bodies. Imagine the cervix in this same respect.  If we are in a hospital setting that is frightening or unnatural, or at home surrounded by people that are overly worried about us, we may prairie dog our babies! But sphincter law goes far beyond the simple opening and closing of the organs to incorporate some very useful philosophy of Ina May that you must read (p. 167 in her Guide to Childbirth). Essentially, being in a trusted, relaxed environment that is full of amusement about our bodies and gratitude for each other, where an even exchange of “giving and getting some” is happening, allows our bodies to naturally produce high amounts of oxytocin, endorphins, and other hormones and eases our sphincters to open gradually and widely.

I'll end with this story from my close friend and yoga mentor. When she was giving birth to her boy in the 80's, men were still not widely accepted into the hospital rooms, especially fathers of the laboring woman; it just was not the norm. However, my friend's father made a stink about it. He talked loudly and unabashedly in the hallway, creating quite a raucous, until the staff said, "Oh, we didn't realize how much this meant to you,"  and allowed him to be with his daughter. Fathers are naturally worried about their daughters as they go through any life-altering event, but this dad's presence did something even further than assuaging his own nerves; my friend describes it as an event that not only birthed her baby, but birthed possibility for her father present. The two had years of unresolved tension and through the process of him being there for his daughter's labor, those wounds seemed to heal wholly and powerfully without words spoken. My friend attributes this to the energy present radiating through-out the room. In other words, the "giving and getting some" that bonded her and her family intimately together. 

In conclusion, I have not had my baby yet, but I have heard that a baby will have exactly the birth experience that he needs. I do believe that we can skirt the possibility of this birth happening in a less women-centered model simply by educating ourselves and knowing our options. I'll let Ina May have the last say:

"The problem is that doctors today often assume that something mysterious and unidentified has gone wrong with labor or that a woman's body is somehow 'inadequate'--what I call the 'woman's body as a lemon' assumption. For a variety of reasons, a lot of women have also come to believe that nature made a serious mistake with their bodies. This belief has become so strong in many that they give in to pharmaceutical or surgical treatments when patience and recognition of the normality and harmlessness of the situation would make for better health for them and their babies and less surgery and technological intervention in birth. Most women need encouragement and companionship more than they need drugs.

Remember this for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively of your body" (Guide to Childbirth, p. 141-2).

Namaste,
Katie
2/26/19
24 weeks pregnant

In the theater, 24 weeks

References:
Gaskin, I.M. (2011). Birth Matters: A Midwife's Manifesta. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press.

Gaskin, I.M. (2003). Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Gaskin, I.M. (2002). Spiritual Midwifery. Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Company.

Gurmukh. (2003). Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful: Experience the Natural Power of Pregnancy and Birth with Kundalini Yoga and Meditation. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. Foreword by Cindy Crawford. Illustrations by Pearl Beach.