birth outcomes

Bodywork For Babies: What We’re Really Treating

We hope you enjoy this video. Carol Gray is passionate about this subject! About Carol Gray Carol is the founder and owner of MamaSpace Yoga. She has been a therapeutic bodyworker in private practice for over 32 years. She specializes in Craniosacral Therapy for pregnant and postpartum people and infants. Carol has spent years developing hands-on techniques to enhance the mobility in pregnant bodies including the bony pelvis, the abdominal

How Fetal Constraint Adversely Affects Babies: Things We Notice After Birth by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

How Fetal Constraint Affects Babies: Things We Notice After Birth

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 This is part six of the six-part Stuck Baby Series. In part one, My Baby Dropped!, I explain why engagement is pathology. In part two, Why Did My Baby Get Stuck?, I describe the maternal factors that cause babies to get stuck. Part three is Fetal Factors: How Babies Get Themselves Stuck. Part four explores Fetal Constraint: How Culture Immobilizes Babies. Last week,

Fetal Constraint: How Culture Immobilizes Babies by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Fetal Constraint: How Culture Immobilizes Babies

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 This is the fourth installment of the stuck baby series. Last week I described the fetal factors (ways babies get themselves stuck). The week before I discussed maternal factors. Three weeks ago I covered engagement and explained why it’s pathology. Next week I’ll go over how fetal constraint affects labor and birth. Stay tuned! Today I’m going to discuss cultural factors that reduce

Fetal Factors: How Babies Get Themselves Stuck by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Fetal Factors: How Babies Get Themselves Stuck

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 There are many things that contribute to fetal constraint (stuck babies). Any one of them can operate independently, but usually there are multiple causes for less than optimal fetal positioning that have synergistic or additive effects. As I continue to explore the multiple causes, I will provide examples of how these things can work in concert to prevent babies from moving into more

Why Did My Baby Get Stuck? By Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Why Did My Baby Get Stuck?

It’s not because your pelvis is too small… By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 When I consider how babies fit into — and through — a maternal pelvis I view it from three perspectives: midwifery, bodywork and yoga. As a midwife I generally know more about birth than many bodyworkers. As a bodyworker I know more about how, anatomically and bio-mechanically, a baby fits into and ultimately through a

My Baby Dropped by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

My Baby Dropped!

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 “My baby dropped!!” People usually say this with great enthusiasm when it happens. I’ve never really understood why people rejoice about their babies dropping. Why Do They Think This Is So Cool? Do they think that this is proof they won’t be pregnant until the end of time after all? Do they think that their labors will be shorter because the baby is

Carol Gray Writes About Plagiocephaly and CST at MamaSpace Yoga

Flat Spots

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 I see lots of babies who have flat spots on their heads (plagiocephaly) in my Craniosacral Therapy practice. Container-Baby Culture and Flat Heads The most common variety is the broad flat spot on the back of the head – an artifact of the Back to Sleep Program, swaddling for sleep and time spent in car seats, baby seats and swings that have a

Yoga Inversions During Pregnancy by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Yoga Inversions for Pregnancy

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Once again, people ask if it’s safe. This time, it’s about inversions during pregnancy. Once again, the short answer is yes. The Lineage Yoga practices (including the physical practices) were originally developed by men for men. At first, the “rules” and precautions surrounding yoga practice for women were developed by men for women to follow. While pregnancy can be a time of great

Carol Gray Demonstrates the MamaSpace Yoga Method

The MamaSpace Yoga Method

This week’s post is a video. We hope you enjoy it. It’s all about the MamaSpace Yoga Method. Yes, it’s a method. It promotes optimal fetal positioning. Carol has dedicated her professional life to supporting expectant and new families by promoting gentle aware birth. She has attended births for over 35 years – at first as a doula and from 2000 to 2012 as a midwife. She has since retired