-
Simply put, when there is no home birth in a society, or when home birth is driven completely underground, essential knowledge of women’s capacities in birth is lost to the people of that society—to professional caregivers, as well as to the women of childbearing age themselves.
Ina May Gaskin -
The human species is no more unsuited to give birth than any other of the 5,000 or so species of mammals on the planet. We are merely the most confused.
Ina May Gaskin
-
Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.
Ina May Gaskin -
Let your monkey do it.
Ina May Gaskin -
Ask the woman, she will tell you everything you need to know...
Ina May Gaskin -
It would be a mistake, though, to consider care by family doctors or midwives inferior to that offered by obstetricians simply on the grounds that obstetricians need not refer care to a family physician or midwife if no complications develop during a course of labor.
Ina May Gaskin -
The energy that gets the baby in is the energy that gets the baby out.
Ina May Gaskin -
Squat 300 times a day, you’re going to give birth quickly.
Ina May Gaskin
-
When you cast doubt on some bodily function- you don't know how sensitive the body is to that kind of idea.
Ina May Gaskin -
Gardeners know that you must nourish the soil if you want healthy plants. You must water the plants adequately, especially when seeds are germinating and sprouting, and they should be planted in a nutrient-rich soil. Why should nutrition matter less in the creation of young humans than it does in young plants? I'm sure that it doesn't.
Ina May Gaskin -
The way a culture treats women in birth is a good indicator of how well women and their contributions to society are valued and honored.
Ina May Gaskin -
Why in the world do the insurance companies get to be the boss of birth? That's what I want to know.
Ina May Gaskin -
Whenever and however you give birth, your experience will impact your emotions, your mind, your body, and your spirit for the rest of your life.
Ina May Gaskin -
It does a man good to see his lady being brave while she has their baby... it inspires him.
Ina May Gaskin
-
The suckling relationship is one of the sources of real sweetness that we have in human existence...The suckling baby can teach adults about the expression of sweet love and gratitude in a way no words can.
Ina May Gaskin -
Pregnant and birthing mothers are elemental forces, in the same sense that gravity, thunderstorms, earthquakes, and hurricanes are elemental forces. In order to understand the laws of their energy flow, you have to love and respect them for their magnificence at the same time that you study them with the accuracy of a true scientist.
Ina May Gaskin -
Many of our problems in US maternity care stem from the fact that we leave no room for recognizing when nature is smarter than we are.
Ina May Gaskin -
If you can't be a hero, you can at least be funny while being a chicken.
Ina May Gaskin -
Birth Matters... It matters because it is the way we all begin our lives outside of our source, our mother's bodies. It's the means from which we enter and feel our first impression of the wider world. For each mother, it is an event that shakes and shapes her to her innermost core. Women's perceptions about their bodies and their babies' capabilities will be deeply influenced by the care they receive around the time of birth.
Ina May Gaskin -
When a child is born, the entire Universe has to shift and make room. Another entity capable of free will, and therefore capable of becoming God, has been born.
Ina May Gaskin
-
Don't forget to bring your sense of humor to your labor.
Ina May Gaskin -
It's easy to scare women. It's even profitable to scare women... But it's not nice, so let's stop it.
Ina May Gaskin -
It is important to keep in mind that our bodies must work pretty well, or their wouldn't be so many humans on the planet.
Ina May Gaskin -
Why should insurance companies continue to get away with limiting the skills that a health profession has always previously required of its members if they were to be considered fully trained?
Ina May Gaskin