Evidence Based Birth®

In this episode, I am joined by Katie Kane, a parent from Cherry Hill, New Jersey who took the Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Class when she was pregnant with her daughter. Katie worked with EBB Instructor Cat LaPlante.  From the beginning of her pregnancy, Katie planned for an unmedicated hospital birth - leading her on a path to researching doulas and eventually finding the EBB Childbirth Class. She was intentional in choosing her birth team, and ended up switching providers when she knew her first was not the best fit for her. With the support of her husband and doula, Katie was able to navigate roadblocks that may have resulted in different outcomes for her birth if she had not been so well prepared. For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class. RESOURCES: Find an Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Class or Comfort Measures for Labor and Delivery Workshop here. Find an Evidence Based Birth Instructor, and all EBB parent resources here. Follow Jen McLellan at Plus Size Birth, the Plus Mommy podcast and Instagram. You can also hear Jen on the Evidence Based Birth Podcast here.

In this episode, I am joined by Leiko Hidaka, an Evidence Based Birth Instructor from the Dominican Republic. Leiko holds a Master’s degree in Human Settlements and Environment. She earned her birth doula certification with DONA International, and her childbirth educator certification with the International Childbirth Education Association. She serves as International Coordinator for ICAN, and also leads the local ICAN chapter of the Dominican Republic, where she is a highly respected and passionate leader for women’s autonomy through evidence based care. Leiko became an EBB Instructor in 2018, and she teaches classes and workshops for parents and birth professionals in the Dominical Republic. She is also working to establish a free standing birth center there.  Leiko and I talk about what birth is like in the Dominican Republic, and the challenges all women face in finding the provider who is right for their unique needs. We also discuss a technique called motivational interviewing, and how to use that strategy to navigate communication with providers. Trigger warning: This podcast address obstetric violence and fear.  For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class. Resources: Follow Leiko Hidaka on her website, Instagram, and Facebook Click here  for the Evidence Based Birth COVID-19 resource page. Click here to see EBB’s new Sample Informed Consent Form for Refusal to Separate Birthing Parent and Infant. This document is also available in Spanish. For Spanish translations of EBB’s one-page handouts, click here. Check out our Spring Sale in the Evidence Based Birth Shop! T-shirts are on sale - buy two, get $10 off your order. Also - we are offering FREE downloads of the e-book version of Babies Are Not Pizzas!  The Evidence Based Birth Pro membership is on sale through this Friday, May 1! Click here to get 20% off the monthly or annual term. 

In this episode I kick off a new series on natural labor induction - starting with the evidence on acupressure, shiatsu or acupuncture, and breast stimulation.  Natural induction techniques continue to be among our most searched and requested topics at Evidence Based Birth. I’ll continue to cover new methods over the next several months.  For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class. Resources: Get the Evidence Based Birth Natural Labor Induction series here. Follow Dan Dekker, the Birth Business Teacher, here. Access Spanish translations of our one- and two-page handouts here.

In this episode, I interview Sabia Wade, a Black and Queer full spectrum doula, doula business coach and reproductive justice advocate. She is the founder of For The Village and Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings. She’s also a Somatic Experience Practitioner in training. Sabia’s mission is to bring inclusive, accessible and full spectrum education and resources to all individuals and organizations dedicated to creating a world of inclusion, justice and equity to birthing people all over the world. Sabia and I discuss health disparities and advocacy, and how both are being affected by the coronavirus pandemic. For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class. Resources: Follow Sabia’s on Instagram @theblackdoula and @birthingadvocacy. Connect with Sabina at The Black Doula and Birthing Advocacy.
 Donate to For the Village here. See Sabia’s Marco Polo Channel here.
 For sliding scale and/or free assistance from a doula, and birth strategy planning during the pandemic, contact birthunplanning@gmail.com. Black Maternal Health Week is April 14-21. Visit https://blackmamasmatter.org/bmhw/ to learn about upcoming webinars, resources, and more! Selected news articles about health disparities and the coronavirus: Early Data Shows African Americans Have Contracted and Died of Coronavirus at an Alarming Rate Indian Country, where residents suffer disproportionately from disease, is bracing for coronavirus Black communities hit harder by coronavirus in Michigan, not just Detroit Bronx Residents Twice as Likely to Die From COVID-19 in NYC  

In this episode, I am joined by Heather McCullough, an Evidence Based Birth® Instructor, Certified Hypnobabies Instructor®, and Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner. Heather is also CAPPA faculty, and is certified to train labor doulas, postpartum doulas, and lactation educators. She has also been a childbirth educator and a certified professional midwife for over 25 years.  Heather reveals some of the ways providers may interact with birthing people to steer them into situations that are best for them and for the hospital - not necessarily the birth plan. She also shares some success stories she’s experienced using EBB advocacy techniques. For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class. RESOURCES: Follow Heather McCullough at her website, on Facebook, and on Instagram.  For the latest Evidence Based Birth COVID-19 updates, click here.  

In this episode, I am joined by Vicki Penwell, a licensed midwife and CPM, and the founder and executive director of Mercy in Action Vineyard, Inc. Mercy in Action is responsible for more than 15,500 safe births in the Philippines since 1991 - at no cost to the parents - with outcomes four times better than the country’s national average. Vicki is also executive director of the Mercy in Action College of Midwifery, has a Master’s degree in midwifery in the U.S., and a Master’s degree in intercultural studies in the Philippines. She has forty years of experience accepting late transfer of care clients, and 29 years of experience in a disaster-based midwifery model of care - including responding to national disasters and adjusting quickly too ever-changing landscapes for birth.  Given that 2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, and we are also experiencing a global pandemic, I am so glad Vicki is able to join me and talk about home birth during this challenging time. For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/EvidenceBasedBirth/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ebbirth/), and Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/ebbirth/). Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/) and our Instructor program. (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-an-evidence-based-birth-instructor/) Find an EBB Instructor here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/find-an-instructor-parents/), and click here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/childbirth-class/) to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Class.

In this episode, I cover all the evidence to date on COVID-19 and pregnancy. This is an uncertain time and many are feeling a range of emotions. Our goal remains the same: to provide you with friendly, accessible, evidence based information so that you can make informed decisions. During a global pandemic, our goal is more important than ever. I've been working nonstop with Evidence Based Birth Research Editor Anna Bertone, MPH, to stay abreast of new research that comes out nearly every day about COVID-19. This podcast covers the latest as of March 23, 2020. All Evidence Based Birth research findings and updates on COVID-19 can be found here. Other resources on this page include our virtual doula directory, information on our Virtual Childbirth Class, a full length webinar on this topic, and more.  For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

In this episode I am excited to welcome Nicole Phelps! Nicole is a philanthropist who spends the majority of her volunteering with the Michael Phelps Foundation, which promotes water-safety, healthy living, and the pursuit of dreams. In addition to her efforts with the Foundation, she also supports events and programs with Make-A-Wish and Operation Shower among others. A mother of three boys, Phelps is a “Mommy Advocate” and works to bring awareness to the challenges of motherhood by sharing her personal experiences through content campaigns, social media platforms and speaking engagements. A former marketing professional with YP, Phelps graduated with honors from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism and also cultivated a successful career in pageantry, being named Miss California USA 2010. She currently resides in Paradise Valley, AZ with her husband, Michael, their three sons (Boomer, Beckett, and Maverick) and two French bulldogs (Juno and Legend). Hear Nicole share her pregnancy and birth stories, and particularly her experience with cholestasis during pregnancy – a liver condition that can cause severe itching and other symptoms, and carries the risk for serious complications including stillbirth. We discuss the evidence on cholestasis, and the vital members of Nicole’s birth team who helped her along the way. Connect with Nicole Phelps on Instagram and Twitter. For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

In this episode, I talk with certified nurse midwife Liane MacPherson. Liane has been working in women’s health for over 32 years - initially as a labor and delivery nurse, and for the past 19 years as a CNM. She is also a lactation consultant, a childbirth educator, and a midwifery professor with the Georgetown University graduate midwifery program, into which she introduced Evidence Based Birth’s Higher Ed resources. Liane is taking doctorate studies, and she has trained in a variety of places - including Canada, Haiti, Germany, England, Ireland - as well as the U.S. She served in a collaborative private practice in Texas for ten years, and is now currently the certified nurse midwife director for a large OB hospitalist program. Liane and I discuss the career trajectory of certified nurse midwives in the U.S., and she compares the American systemic viewpoint of midwives to those in other countries. We also talk about options for students pursuing nurse midwifery in today’s health care system, and the evidence surrounding the midwife/physician collaborative model. For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

In this week’s episode I interview Dr. Alyssa Berlin, a clinical psychologist specializing in pregnancy, postpartum, and parenting. She is also creator of the AfterBirth Plan Workshop, a program preparing couples for a physically and emotionally healthy postpartum transition - for the baby, for each partner, and for their evolving relationships. Dr. Berlin has specific expertise working with emotional concerns that may arise before, during, or after birth. She and her husband, Dr. Elliot Berlin, are the co-founders of the Berlin Wellness Group, and are proud parents to four children. Dr. Berlin offers practical analogies to help put postpartum in perspective as a human experience, as well as strategies for anticipation and prevention of emotional and situational triggers. We also talk about the importance of postpartum doulas and other professional and personal supporters. For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) and our Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class. RESOURCES: Follow Dr. Alyssa Berlin on Instagram. Learn about the AfterBirth Plan Workshop here. Connect with the Berlin Wellness Group on Facebook,  Twitter, Instagram and at doctorberlin.com. Find Episode 85 of the Evidence Based Birth Podcast with parent Ashely Smith on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.