Evidence Based Birth® – Details, episodes & analysis

Lisa Smith, a registered dietitian and host of the Pretty Well podcast, joins us on the EBB podcast to discuss the crucial topic of reducing toxins in the home during pregnancy and postpartum. Lisa shares her personal health journey, including her experience with Hashimoto's disease (an autoimmune condition impacting the thyroid), and highlights the importance of reducing environmental toxins to promote optimal health. Listen and learn about the connection between toxins and gut health, how industrial chemicals are found in umbilical cord blood, and steps expectant parents can take to lower toxin levels in their environment. From understanding the dangers of heavy metals and "forever chemicals" to making informed choices about food and household products, Lisa shares practical tips to creating a healthier home for you and your family.

Tune in to Lisa's podcast Pretty Well, here, and follow the show on Instagram here!

For more information about Evidence Based Birth and a crash course on evidence based care, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok! Ready to learn more? Grab an EBB Podcast Listening Guide or read Dr. Dekker's book, "Babies Are Not Pizzas: They're Born, Not Delivered!" If you want to get involved at EBB, join our Professional membership (scholarship options available) and get on the wait list for our EBB Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the EBB Childbirth Class.

Following an emergency c-section due to HELLP syndrome in her first pregnancy, Jolene Brink was determined to have a different birthing experience with her second child. Through the support of a knowledgeable medical team and insights gained from her EBB Childbirth Class, she successfully achieved her goal of an unmedicated VBAC with the birth of her son, Guthrie, in 2022. Jolene's journey towards a VBAC was a transformative process of healing, empowerment, and reclaiming her birthing experience, showcasing the importance of advocacy and informed decision-making in maternal healthcare.

Resources:

• Check out Doulas of Duluth to learn from her instructors Cooper Orth and Dana Morrison, and follow them on Instagram!
• Learn about Jolene's work here!
• Read The Preeclampsia Foundation's article on HELLP Syndrome
• Follow the Preeclampsia Foundation on Instagram
• van Oostwaard, M. F. et al. (2015). "Recurrence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: An individual patient data meta-analysis." Am J Obstet Gynecol 212(5): 624.e1-17. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25582098/
• Duley, L., et al. (2019). "Antiplatelet agents for preventing pre-eclampsia and its complications." Cochrane Database Syst Rev. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6820858/
• Listen to the Evidence on VBAC - EBB 113
• EBB Childbirth Class now includes a module all about planning a VBAC! Learn more about the EBB Childbirth class here.

For more information about Evidence Based Birth and a crash course on evidence based care, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok! Ready to learn more? Grab an EBB Podcast Listening Guide or read Dr. Dekker's book, "Babies Are Not Pizzas: They're Born, Not Delivered!" If you want to get involved at EBB, join our Professional membership (scholarship options available) and get on the wait list for our EBB Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the EBB Childbirth Class.

Have you ever wondered what the evidence is on epidurals for pain management during labor? Join us on today’s podcast as we discuss most recent evidence on epidurals, spinals, and combined spinal-epidurals! We’ll begin with some background on these methods, including how common they are in the U.S. and around the world, before moving on to the effectiveness, benefits, and risks for use during labor. We’ll also talk about alternative methods of pain relief during labor, and share recommendations from professional healthcare organizations. [Bonus addition to the podcast at 20:00: We talk about the study on epidurals out of Scotland [Kearns et al. 2024] that is generating lots of news headlines!] Join us to learn more about pain relief options during labor!   Content Note: Topics related to epidural use, how they’re provided (including needles and catheters), and the benefits and risks of this intervention. Discussion of assisted vaginal delivery (forceps and vacuum deliveries), severe maternal complications, surgery, perineal tears, and postpartum depression.     References:

• To access all the scientific references that go along with this episode, visit our blog article here.
• Access the rest of our EBB Pain Management series go to this page and click on “Pain Management Series.”
• Check out the EBB Pocket Guide to Comfort Measures here.
• Find an EBB Childbirth Class near you here.

For more information about Evidence Based Birth® and a crash course on evidence based care, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok! Ready to learn more? Grab an EBB Podcast Listening Guide or read Dr. Dekker's book, "Babies Are Not Pizzas: They're Born, Not Delivered!" If you want to get involved at EBB, join our Professional membership (scholarship options available) and get on the wait list for our EBB Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the EBB Childbirth Class.

  In today’s episode, hosted by Evidence Based Birth® founder, Dr. Rebecca Dekker, we talk about four major topics related to updated research evidence on IV Fluids: 1) research on how IV Fluids can affect the length of labor, 2) research on how IV Fluids can impact breast/chest/body feeding, 3) the relationship between fluids, newborn weight, and blood sugar levels, and 4) finally, review the current recommendations surrounding IV use in labor.

This podcast is also posted on our YouTube channel in case you want to access the video 

As a content note, this episode includes a discussion of newborn weight drop, newborn feeding struggles, and Cesareans. 

The current episode is taught by Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN (she/her). Dr. Dekker is a nurse with her PhD, who is the founder and CEO of EBB.
 
Content warning: Cesarean, breastfeeding/chestfeeding struggles, infant weight drop  

Resources:

For a full list of scientific references, see the blog post that goes along with this episode

Check out our Signature Article blog post and download our 1-page handout on:

• Evidence on: Eating and Drinking During Labor
• Evidence on: IV Fluids During Labor
• Evidence on: Failure to Progress 

Additional podcasts to listen to include:

• EBB 12 - Epidurals & Breastfeeding
• EBB 104 – The Evidence on Saline Locks

Go to our YouTube channel to see video versions of the YouTube episodes you listed above!!   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/ ),
• Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/ebbirth/ ).

Ready to get involved?

• Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/ ).
• Become an EBB Instructor with Applications opening April 24th! https://www.evidencebasedbirth.com/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 week's podcast I interview Cheri Grant RN, ICCE, CLC, ICD, CLD, CD BDT(DONA), known in the birth world as "the peanut ball lady.” She is the founder, chief contributor and inspiration for Premier Birth Tools. For over 45 years, she has served women as a labor and delivery nurse, childbirth educator, lactation consultant, national speaker, author, doula, and doula trainer. She has helped with well over 2,700 deliveries in the span of her career. Cheri is also the founder of Tulsa Doulas, a community group that has helped train and support doulas for over 20 years.

Cheri’s interest in peanut balls began when she first saw their use in labor in 1985. At that time, they were just straddled. In the 2000’s, the usage of peanut balls was refined to the side-lying position, and interest in them began to grow among birth professionals. They are used with and without an epidural, and can be effective in shortening labor. Premier Birth Tools promotes education via its website, as well as Peanut Ball Ambassadors and Authorized Peanut Ball Trainers. Cheri discusses peanut ball positions and other new information on this tool.

Content Warning: Episode contains gendered language. 

Resources:

Connect with Cheri at the Premier Birth Tools website and Facebook page.

Purchase her book The Peanut Ball: Basic and Advanced Techniques.

Contact Premier Birth Tools for a free information packet for doulas, L&D nurses, midwives and nursing instructors.

Learn more about the Evidence on: Birthing Positions Signature Article here

For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com. Find us on Instagram, and Pinterest.

Ready to get involved? Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options), our Instructor Program and, for parents, check out our Childbirth Education Classes 

On today’s podcast, we’re going to talk with the founder of Every Baby Eats, licensed clinical social worker, and IBCLC, Kristin Cavuto

Kristin Cavuto, pronouns she/they, is a licensed clinical social worker in IBCLC and private practice in central New Jersey. Her practice specialties are low supply, parental and infant mental health, and the intersection of ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender in the care of the new family.
 
Kristin is the mother of two children who nursed full-time despite maternal insufficient glandular tissue (IGT) and who are now 16 and 13. Kristin is also an anti-racist activist and an LGBT+ activist, a member of Transformative Works fandoms, and makes fighting for a better world part of their daily life.

We talk to Kristin about supporting families struggling with feeding infants in a realistic, family-centered, and non-disparaging way. We also talk about fatphobia as a form of oppression and marginalization in medicine and birth and what we can all do to challenge bias and model acceptance

Content warning: We mention the intersection of fatphobia and racism.

 

Resources:

• EBB 99 – Plus Size Pregnancy and Birth with Jen McLellan 
• Harvard Implicit Bias Test
• Fat Phobia Scale Revisited by Robinson, Bacon, et al. 
• HAES (Health at Every Size)
• The Body is Not An Apology 
• National Association for the Advancement of Fat People 
• To follow Kristin on Facebook 
• Kristin's current project: https://www.everybabyeats.com/

Today, we are going to explore brand new updates to the Evidence Based Birth® Signature Article, Evidence on: Eating during Labor! We talk about four major topics: 

1. Nutritional needs during labor
2. New info on gestational or pre-gestational diabetes and eating during labor
3. New research on anesthesiology and its relationship to eating and drinking during labor, and
4. Finally, how body mass index and fatphobia relate to anesthesia concerns, and what that has to do with eating during labor.
    
    Content Warning: pregnancy-related death, anesthesia-related death, fatphobia and anesthesia, microaggressions related to health care workers' reaction to ethnic foods
    
   Resources:

• Refer to previous podcast episode: EBB 198 - Evidence on Eating & Drinking (linked on blog post below)
• Check out our Signature Article… Evidence on: Eating and Drinking during Labor at
• Check out our Signature Article... Evidence on: IV Fluids on Labor
• Check out our Signature Article... Evidence on: Diagnosing Gestational Diabetes
• Fat Phobia and It’s Racist Past and Present: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/893006538
• For a full list of scientific references, see the blog post that goes along with this episode

Today, I am so excited to present to you a replay of one of our most popular episodes on the Evidence Based Birth® podcast, and that is an episode from 2020 with special guest, Shafia Monroe. Before we get started with the replay, I wanted to let you know that this episode contains discussion of Black infant and maternal mortality related to racism, slavery and Jim Crow, and racism that continues to affect people’s lives today.
 
Shafia gave us such an inspirational episode in 2020, that we wanted to bring it back for those of you who are new to EBB, or for those of you who’ve listened to it before. Whenever I listen to this episode, it fills me with a sense of awe for Black traditional midwives, and it gives me hope while it reminds me of the tenacity of the human spirit.

So join us today as we replay this episode and you go on a storytelling journey with Mama Shafia Monroe about spirituality and traditional midwives.

In today’s podcast episode, we’re going to talk with Shafia Monroe about the role of the traditional midwife.

Shafia Monroe is a public health professional, a midwife, a motivational speaker, founder of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing, or ICTC, which was the first US-based black midwives and doulas professional organization. Shafia is also an author, infant mortality prevention specialist, doula trainer, and president of Doula Ready, LLC. Since 2002, she has trained thousands of people in doula trainings, with one-third of them going on to become midwives. In 2012, Shafia received her Master of Public Health from Walden University. In 2014, she opened Shafia Monroe Consulting, a cultural competency training service. Shafia has received numerous awards for her work, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Midwife Hero Award.

In this podcast, Ms. Monroe discusses the history of Black traditional midwifery and incorporating spirituality into birth work. We also talk about Shafia’s experience becoming a traditional Black midwife, along with her passion for advocacy in birth work through her doula program and her community.

**Trigger Content Warning: This podcast episode discusses racism and infant loss.**

Resources

• Learn more about Shafia Monroe and SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training here (https://shafiamonroe.com/).
• Follow Shafia on Instagram and Black Midwife Cooking here (https://www.instagram.com/shafiamonroe/).  
• Follow Shafia on Twitter here (https://twitter.com/Shafia_SMC).
• Follow Shafia on Facebook here (https://www.facebook.com/shafiamonroeconsulting/). 
• Click here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/birth-justice/) to see the Evidence Based Birth® list of Birth Justice Resources, including research on racism and maternal health.
• More resources are listed on the the blog post at https://www.evidencebasedbirth.com/152  

On today's podcast, we're going to talk with Melek Öz about vaginal birth after Cesarean (VBAC), advocacy, and becoming a home birth midwife!

Content note: Mention of weight loss and racism.

Melek Öz (she/her) is a home birth midwife living with her family in South Austin, Texas. She moved to Austin in 2001 to attend the University of Texas, where she completed both her undergraduate studies and law school before transitioning to birth work. Melek has been active in birth advocacy for more than a decade throughout her childbearing years and now as a home birth midwife.

With her first pregnancy, Melek was told by her OB that her pelvis was "too small." She was pressured into an early induction that turned into a preventable Cesarean. Fresh out of surgery, Melek's OB told her, "Now that you've had one Cesarean, all your babies will have to be born by Cesarean."

In this podcast episode, Melek goes on to share her subsequent birth stories, in which she had a CBAC (Cesarean Birth after Cesarean) under general anesthesia, as well as a vaginal birth after 2 C-sections (VBA2C). Midwifery care helped her have "a really joyous and an incredible experience, and I'm lucky that I had all 3 experiences that I did, because it helped kind of round out and balance my views on birth."

Melek went on to pursue a career as a doula and eventually a home birth midwife! In this episode, we talk about the power of midwifery care, unpacking racism/classism and how it affects midwifery students, and how we can advocate for VBAC access in our communities. She also gives great tips for people who are considering a VBAC or thinking about going into midwifery!

Resources:

• Follow Melek Öz on Instagram (@midwifemelek) and visit her website at http://www.midwifemelek.com/
• EBB Podcast #113: The Evidence on VBAC
• EBB Podcast #209: Providing Unbiased VBAC Access and Support with Jen Kamel of VBAC Facts
• Visit the VBAC Facts website: https://vbacfacts.com
• Visit the International Cesarean Awareness Network website https://www.ican-online.org/
• EBB Podcast #224: Failure to Progress (info on racist beliefs about pelvic shapes)
• Tema Mercado teaches workshops on decolonizing apprenticeships at La Matriz Birth (https://www.lamatrizbirth.com/) and @matrizmidwife on Instagram
• Luz de Atabey (https://www.instagram.com/lampatx/) project in Austin focused on accessible perinatal care and support (QTBIPOC-led)
• Kmom passed away in 2019, but her blog, "The Well Rounded Mama," is still maintained by her loving family at https://wellroundedmama.blogspot.com/, where you can find many articles about fat phobia and VBAC.
• EBB Professional Membership (includes scholarship options!) https://evidencebasedbirth.com/membership '
• Non-profit fundraising organization Black Home Birth Matters: https://www.blackhomebirthmattersatx.org/

On today's podcast, we're going to talk with EBB Childbirth Class Parents, Lisa Mangini and Anand Swaminathan about their high-intervention birth story! So many people have negative associations with interventions— but Lisa and Anand's story shows how you can still experience a joyful, empowering birth, even in the midst of complications!

Lisa Mangini is a writer living in Central Pennsylvania with her husband, Anand and young son. She teaches English and creative writing at a university and is in the early stages of writing a book about becoming a parent.

I think Lisa is the first person I've heard of who found the EBB Childbirth Class through a neurologist! During her first pregnancy (which ended in a miscarriage), Lisa had her first tonic-clonic seizure. Lisa had to dive into a journey to manage her seizure disorder and several other health conditions, all while trying to conceive and then eventually getting pregnant.

Lisa and Anand's story is perfect for anyone who is facing a high-risk pregnancy or supporting clients who are high-risk! Lisa talks about dealing with prenatal anxiety, switching hospitals and providers, deciding to hire a doula, and how a calm, experienced midwife can be a huge asset during a high-risk birth situation.

Content warning: We mention miscarriage, prenatal anxiety, high levels of medical intervention, seizures, and fear of dying during childbirth

Resources:

• Follow Lisa at @lisaquarius and Lisamangini.com
• Find an EBB Childbirth Class at https://evidencebasedbirth.com/childbirthclass
• EBB Signature Article on doulas at https://evidencebasedbirth.com/doulas
• EBB Podcast episode 175 on the evidence on midwives https://evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-on-midwives/
• EBB Podcast episode 186 on a high-risk pregnancy with Angela Jones https://evidencebasedbirth.com/a-positive-pregnancy-and-birth-outcome-with-multiple-high-risk-labels-with-ebb-childbirth-class-parent-angela-jones/