Ina May Awarded Honorary Doctorate

INA MAY GASKIN AWARDED HONORARY DOCTORATE

FOR DEMONSTRATING EFFECTIVENESS AND SAFETY OF MIDWIFERY

cap-and-gown LONDON—Ina May Gaskin, of Summertown, Tennessee, was awarded the title “Honorary Doctor” by the Thames Valley University, London, England, on November 24, 2009. The award was presented by the faculty of the Health and Human Sciences division of the University in recognition of her work in demonstrating through midwifery and natural childbirth that women’s bodies still work as they were designed. Gaskin accepted the award in the Grand Auditorium of Wembley Stadium before an audience of 600.

Gaskin, who will turn 70 in March, thanked her mother for not scaring her about childbirth; Dr. Grantly Dick-Read (author of the classic Childbirth Without Fear); her high school biology teacher for teaching her to keep an open mind; her husband, Stephen Gaskin, for allowing 270 young people to accompany him on a lecture tour in the winter of 1970-71; and several physicians for mentoring her during the early years of her career as midwife.

Gaskin also thanked “the little Capuchin monkey who, in 1970, held my hand with an electrifying touch, thereby teaching me in an instant that I could also have touch that powerful if I lived as much in the moment as she did.”

With the honorary degree, Gaskin is now a PhD(Hon.), as well as a CPM, Certified Professional Midwife. She is Executive Director of the Farm Midwifery Center, which she helped found in 1971; the center has handled more than 2600 births, with statistics showing much better than average outcomes. Gaskin herself has attended more than 1200 births. She is author of Spiritual Midwifery, now in its fourth edition, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, and a new book, Ina May’s Guide to Breastfeeding.

Gaskin lectures internationally at midwifery conferences, at medical schools and hospitals, both to students and to faculty. She was President of Midwives’ Alliance of North America from 1996 to 2002. In 1997, she received the ASPO/Lamaze Irwin Chabon Award and the Tennessee Perinatal Association Recognition Award. She was featured in Salon magazine’s “Brilliant Careers” in 1999. In 2003 she was chosen as Visiting Fellow of Morse College, Yale University.

Gaskin transformed her observation of increasing maternal mortality in the United States into The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project, a national effort to honor women who have died of pregnancy-related causes and to draw public attention to the high maternal death rate in the U.S.

Her promotion of a low-intervention but extremely effective method for dealing with one of the most-feared birth complications, shoulder dystocia, has resulted in that method being adopted by a growing number of practitioners. The Gaskin maneuver is the first obstetrical procedure to be named for a midwife. Gaskin learned it from a Belizean midwife, who had learned it from indigenous midwives in Guatemala.

Margaret Sexton fitzpatrick

December 10th, 2009 at 7:58 am

Congratulations to a wonderful and inspiring woman. Im really happy for you and for all you have done. And thank you for sharing so much of your knowledge and fun for life this summer at The Farm.

I’m celebrating « Ina May Gaskin

December 13th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

[...] Ina May Awarded Honorary Doctorate Archives [...]

Carolyn

December 18th, 2009 at 11:56 pm

Fabulous news. Great to see you honoured so appropriately Ina May! You have made a difference to so many women and so many midwives. Thank you for your courage and warm, enlightening way of sharing a very simple and profound message.

Jessie Johnson-Cash

December 20th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

Congratulations to a truely amazing woman, thank you for all that you have done for midwifery and birthing women around the world. you have had such a profound influence on my life, opening my eyes to my calling through an old copy of spiritual midwifery i found as a young girl on my mother’s bookshelf and have treasured ever since. you have given me hope when I forgotton where i’d left mine. so wonderful to see you recognised for the work you have done. blessings, x

William Gross

December 31st, 2009 at 1:22 pm

So happy to hear about your continuing success. Dr. Gaskin has a real nice ring to it. Congratulations Ina May…it’s a privilege to have been involved in your ‘movie’ even in such a small way.
I met a single mom who was going to give birth in a month, or so. She confided in me she was overwhelmed and very fearful. So I gave her my old, beat up copy of Spiritual Midwifery that I’d been carrying around for years. She told me that reading your book completely relieved her fears and she had a happy, healthy birthing.
Love, William Gross

admin

January 1st, 2010 at 3:54 pm

That’s nice to know, William. It’s wonderful that the stories of the parents of our community (and what we discovered about birth when we all did our best to make it as positive and safe an experience as it could be) continue to relieve fears.

Love and Happy New Year!

THEODORE

January 4th, 2010 at 11:28 am

I can read about this stuff all day long, thanks for the write up my friend! Happy New Years!

Danielle van Renssen

January 18th, 2010 at 6:31 am

I am a 30 year olf mum from Holland who is expecting here second baby in april. Although our country is known for birthing at home, there is still a lot of hororr stories and discussion going on here on why we have the highest death rate at birth in the whole of Europe. Adding to this my first birthing experience was traumatic, because I ended up in hospital and lost all control there. I am going over this experience in my mind now to find out what went wrong. Although there was meconium in the water and I had to go to hospital, I still wonder if all the steps that took at that point were necesarry. Living towards my delivery I have found inspiration in your book Ina May. Because I still feel I want and can do it the natural way in my own surroundings with loving people. I am half way through the book and am learning each page how to focus and prepair mayself for a great experience instead of the fear I felt last time. Thank you

Livia Sutley

January 18th, 2010 at 8:05 am

I appreciate your blog very much. Will read all. Keep up to excellent writing on it. Thanks

January 19th, 2010 at 5:55 pm

I haven’t been able to look deeply enough into these reports about the neonatal death rate (that’s the one that they’re concerned about, isn’t it?) to understand the reasons for it being higher than some other European countries. Because Holland has the highest home birth rate in Europe, that alone will cause some people to leap to the conclusion that this has something to do with home birth. I’m currently (slowly) teaching myself to read Dutch, so feel free to send me some URLs of of some of these news articles that you’re reading.

About meconium in the water, that can be a symptom of distress in the baby, but it isn’t always. Meconium in the water plus an abnormal fetal heart rate is a sign of distress, but meconium alone—especially, if it’s not thick like pea soup—may not be a concern if a mother is deep into labor. Good luck with your coming birth. There are beginning to be doulas in Holland, and they know some very good relaxation techniques to use during labor.

January 20th, 2010 at 6:27 am

Thanks for your reply. It feels very good to get response becuase I am dealing with a lot of emotions on the moment and really want to talk to the right person.

I will look into some articles and send them to you.

The rule in Holland is that you have to go to hospital with meconium. When the heart rate also became low in hospital they decided to put me on heavy contraction inducing medicine and I had to push without contractions in the end and my baby was pulled out with a vacumm extractor. The trauma was great both physically and emotionally. Looking back I think I was by myself to long during labour at home not able to relax enough to open up. I really want to prevent to go to hospital so I just started to look into taking a doula for support at home, because the midwives overhere only visit for check ups and leave again. On the other hand reading your book is also helping me to learn more about birth, but unfortunately my partner is very scared after our last birth, so I need someone more possitive next to me. I will talk about doula’s with my midwife next week. Unfortunately it is impossible to build up a intimate relationship with all of them since they are with 8 in one practice and they work alone during birth.
If I would be anywhere near the farm, I would check inn today!

January 21st, 2010 at 2:37 pm

Here, as promised, two articles from dutch newspapers. The first article is an example of why people get made scared of home births.
The second is an article of an advice that was recently presented to the dutch government to improve the baby death rate in the netherlands.

(you can try to translate the article on google, but it doesn,t come out 100% right)

http://www.volkskrant.nl/archief_gratis/article609873.ece/Bel_de_ambulance_maar

http://extra.volkskrant.nl/opinie/artikel/show/id/4898/Barensnood

January 21st, 2010 at 9:49 pm

I might know some doulas if I can know where you live in the Netherlands.

I’m just now attempting to translate an article published about me in NRC Handelsblad within the last month. I don’t think that it was put online. Maybe you can find it: the title was: “De spirituele vroedvrouw”.

Try to find a doula who knows about the “rebozo technique.” It’s a very clever Mexican technique for helping mother relax. Thea van Tuyl (Apeldoorn) and Mirjam de Keizer are the authors of a great new book about this.

January 22nd, 2010 at 4:07 am

I can find your article, but it is not available online. Can you send the article to me? I could translate for you.

I live very nearby Rotterdam. Do you know any doulas overthere? I send an email to one called Malua last night.

I will try to find the book about the technique you mention.

Santos Nguy

January 23rd, 2010 at 5:07 pm

Hi and many thanks for a enlightening web site. I am still thinking over what you talked about.

January 27th, 2010 at 9:03 pm

Hey Sally-Anne. Good to hear from you. I’ve been worried about the survival of homebirth in Australia ever since I learned back in the late 1980s that U. S. hospital corporations were able to buy so many Aussie hospitals. Has Germaine Greer been heard from on this yet?

January 28th, 2010 at 6:03 pm

The anti-midwifery witchhunt spreads like a disease and rides on every-higher cesarean and induction rates. More power to you Aussie midwives. Is Germaine Greer on your side?

Yam Erez

January 29th, 2010 at 3:09 am

Congrats, Dr. Gaskin. I picked up a copy of SM when pregnant with my first (1990) and went on to have three wonderful, intervention-free births. I loved giving birth, and would do it again in a heartbeat (not the child-rearing, just the birth! I’m 50), thanks in large part to you. Keep on sending your message!

Sally-Anne Brown

February 17th, 2010 at 3:40 am

Thanks Ina May – we have not normally had a great response from GG in the past – however this is a great idea we will follow. National Day of Action is planned for tommorrow – we are in a fed election year and are following the PM to Ballarat in Victoria as well as 13 other concurrent rallies around the nation outside various pollies offices. Despite two senate enquiries for the same bills (only ever occurred twice in Australia’s history) and record level submissions – the govt have chosen to run with our med lobby group – also the ‘AMA’ and legislate that all women wanting to birth at home must have appproval from a doctor first ie: the death of homebirth. We are strong and we will seek advice on the legalities from a human rites perspective. Importantly many of us are working for Midwives for Haiti as well and our hearts are with the women and families of Haiti xo