By Mandy Schutt 
I picked up my first Ina May book back when I was just learning about birth and wanted to become a doula. The title of the book was, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. It was a treasure trove. May wrote about the raw, magnificent beauty of birth, in particular natural birth. She wrote about the physiology, chemistry, and anatomy of birth. She had this Biology flunk-out drawn into her pages as I’ve never been before. She was brilliant and passionate and I wanted to know more!
What makesIna May’s books so great is not just the scientific and historical aspects of her writing but the fact that she includes real birth stories in her books. They aren’t gussied up by ghost writers or edited to literary perfection, they are written by every day women, some who write well and some who just write with sincerity…it doesn’t really matter because as a reader you can see their stories unfold. Seeing these births in the mind’s eye is an incredibly powerful experience for western women who have, for the most part, seen birth as a certain way (screaming, painful, traumatic, a means to an end, doctor dominated, fearful, etc.) and have come to believe that this sort of birth experience is an inevitable part of becoming a mother. We NEED positive birth stories in this society.
Since that first life-altering Ina read, I’ve had the opportunity to read her other books, and even voyage to Tennessee to see the infamous “The Farm” with my own two eyes. One of my dearest, oldest friends is now receiving prenatal care at The Farm and will birth there this coming July. The Farm is a community that dates back to the early 70s when a group of hippies (Ina May included) bought a parcel of land and decided to live there together. Ina May was an English Major, with no medical training. She tells of her midwife metamorphosis in more detail in her first book, Spiritual Midwifery (first published in 1977 and peppered with terms like, “far out”, “psychedelic” and many a reference to "aura color"). She caught her first baby with the help of a pocket guide and quickly realized two things: being in the presence of a birthing woman was indeed a spiritual experience and she really should try to learn more about birth than what was in the contents of her pocket guide. And so she did…years later Ina May became a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife), wrote five books, teaches OBs and midwives across the globe, has developed the “Gaskin Maneuver” to aid babes with shoulder dystocia, appears in many well-known documentaries, is known as, “The Mother of Authentic Midwifery”, and still runs a birthing center on The Farm with a--- wait for it--- cesarean section rate of under 2%.
Wha? Huh? Come again?
Yes, that’s right under 2%. (The national average for low-risk mothers is around 20%.)
Ina May’s newest book, Birth Matters, which she was working on when I visited The Farm, two summers ago, has now been released. As I read through the first few chapters, once again I am drawn to her words with deep passion and awe. Gaskin has written this book specifically for modern mothers of today- we who have grown accustomed to technology and fearful of natural birth.
If I had a nickel for every women that I have spoken to who said,
“…and then I read this book by Ina May.”
Or
“…but that all changed when I read this one book by Ina May.”
In truth, sometimes I have more than a nickel, because her books have challenged so many expecting mothers to become educated, supported, encouraged, liberated; which often leads them to me in search of a childbirth educator or doula. I just sent my sister, “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth”, she’s 19 weeks pregnant. When someone asks me for recommendations of a good pregnancy read, I always send them to Ina May, after all she’s sent plenty of women to me!
If you’re pregnant or want to be pregnant some day or if you are just curious about the hows and whys and ifs of birth in general, check out Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth or Birth Matters. Regardless of how little or how much you know about birth, Ina May’s books are an mind-opening delight.
Ina’s first name is pronounced “eye-nuh”. She's now in her 70s and fantastic as ever! For more Ina info, see: Ina May's Biography, The Farm Midwives, Ina May's Safe Motherhood Quilt Project.
