Spinning Babies^® Offers Extra Support for Expectant Parents

Spinning Babies® is a free birth preparation class that focuses on how balance, gravity and movement promote comfort in pregnancy and ease in childbirth.

Liz Pitra, a registered nurse and childbirth educator at St. Cloud Hospital, facilitates the Spinning Babies® approach that teaches expectant parents how to use rest and movement to allow babies to find the space to engage, descend and rotate during birth. Pitra teaches Spinning Babies® with a community and parent focus.

Generous donor gifts through CentraCare Foundation helped Pitra acquire the special training she needed to lead the program within CentraCare’s Birthing Services.

Spinning Babies® is also offered as a training course for labor and delivery nurses at CentraCare's regional sites. While Pitra's course focuses on conditioning the body eight or 12 weeks prior to delivery, regional sites offer these tools only during active labor and delivery.

Pitra says she looked for physiological approaches to naturally facilitate a better birth experience during her many years as a labor and delivery nurse. "I had an 'Aha!' moment that movement is often the key to success."

Jami Nordmann, director of the Birth Center at St. Cloud Hospital, says Spinning Babies® has improved patient care. "This approach gives floor staff the education and understanding to see better outcomes. Expectant parents come into labor and delivery with more confidence and the ability to use these tools. I see patients feeling more engaged in the birthing process."

Pitra says empowering expectant parents is her goal. Andrea Piotter participated in the Spinning Babies® class with her husband while she was expecting her third child. "I would recommend this class because it helps you have a better birth experience and that starts your parenting journey on the right foot and can improve bonding with your baby," she says.

When asked what she would like donors to know, Pitra offers this: "I am thankful to them for supporting my training in this approach. I am grateful for training that helps care providers see safer and more satisfying outcomes."

Learn more and register for a Spinning Babies® class