Gail Tully & Spinning Babies

Denise Bolds, MSW CD(DONA) September 27, 2016

Gail Tully invited me to the Spinning Babies Confluence 2016 after coming across my work and being attracted to my business name of Bold Doula. I agreed to fly out to Minnesota; I ended up having the time of my life. The Spinning Babies Confluence 2016 was wonderfully filled with information and support.

Gail Tully is the type of person that you have to say her entire name, not just her first name. It just comes out like a mantra. She's a midwife who grew up insanely curious about life “If it’s not that then what? Why am I here?” If you want to know who Gail Tully is, just remember your favorite friend when you were little; you had that tea party and you play dress-up. Remember how your friend took your hand and you both would just walk off together like nothing else mattered because it didn’t; that's Gail Tully. I've never met a more open hearted person in my life. I think she’s Glenda the Good Witch’s mama. She's quick to goof and laugh and when she speaks to you, it’s like you're the only person in the world at that moment, then she’s off to another; the quintessential hummingbird. She had me laughing from the airport when arrived and then she let me vent as a doula complete with ugly cry before I went home. 

Gail is passionate about how babies are born: keeping the natural aspect of that baby as the forefront of what we do including breech births. Spinning Babies stepped up the game of anatomy positioning and birth. It takes away the myth that the person and fetus knows exactly what to do when it's time to give birth AND that the body is ready to give birth.

Well, it isn’t.  Many pregnancies today are riddled with misalignment, stress, misinformation and of course lack of education on both sides of professionals and prospective parents. Gail Tully pulls it all together and spins baby aligning the fetus and relaxing the mother’s pelvis empowering birth. How did we lose so much knowledge about the pelvis and birth? As Gail puts it, birth is just not about cervical dilation it's also about station. 

Spinning babies is also about movement. In many instances, birth is confined to a hospital bed with the pregnant person supine and latched onto monitors and IVs. Once the last ultrasound has been done for fetal size, there's very little support in getting that fetus aligned for birth. Spinning Babies is a must-have knowledge for all who work in birth - it works. 

Gail also teaches belly mapping and painting as a form of social welcome of the baby. It's not all clinical and evidence base, Gail does her best to make birth fun. She also does her best defined the most comprehensive team to present a conference that is birth empowering and necessary. She's a CPM who is also an educator, mentor and trailblaizer.

Consider attending the next spinning babies conference to enhance your birth work practice. I guarantee you will not be disappointed and you will take home immense knowledge. She's the most humble and unassuming person you will find in birth work. Gail Tully and Spinning Babies is a movement we can all dance to.