Evidence Based Birth®

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.

In this episode, we discuss the evidence on inducing versus waiting for labor when you're going past your due date. I am joined by Evidence Based Birth researcher Anna Bertone, MPH, to explore all the latest on this topic and talk about the brand new Evidence Based Birth Signature Article - The Evidence on: Inducing for Due Dates. **TRIGGER WARNING: In this episode, we talk about stillbirth and newborn death.**

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:

Check out the new Evidence Based Birth Signature Article on this topic - The Evidence on Inducing for Due Dates here (INSERT NEW ARTICLE LINK). Be sure to expand the Resources box at the bottom of the article to see all linked references.

See the original Evidence Based Birth Signature Article, The Evidence on Due Dates, here

In this episode, I am joined by Danie Crofoot of Full Spectrum Doulas, an organization dedicated to creating dialogue around topics such as LGBTQIA+ inclusion, cultural competency, racial issues, and much more within the birth community. Their goal is to create space and support for people to have the power to write their own birth and postpartum stories. Danie is a childbirth educator and sex educator, and is known as a "traveling doula" - splitting time mostly between Los Angeles and New York.

Danie and I discuss a number of issues relating to queer and trans parents, including the evidence on trans people, hormones and pregnancy, trans masculine people and pregnancy, mis-gendering, hospital logistics, and how the academic world can build a more rubust body of research on topics relating to LGBTQIA+.

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:

Connect with Danie Crofoot on Instagram (@of.earth.and.salt), Facebook, and at ofbirthandsalt.net. Learn more about Full Spectrum Doulas here. See the Genderbread Person visual here.

In this episode I am joined by Michelle Odoerfer, a mother of two young girls living in Clinton Township, Michigan with her husband Andrew. Michelle experienced two very different births - her first, in a hospital, was tense as she had to endure verbal and physical aggression from an attending OB. Her second was a peaceful, unattended home birth, with just herself and her husband (baby came so fast the midwife didn't make it).

Hear Michelle share how she learned some tough lessons about self advocacy - not only during her first birth, but also through her newborn's undiagnosed tongue and lip tie. Many health care providers missed the ties, and Michelle had to figure out on her own why her baby wasn't gaining weight. She also committed to a journey of sourcing donated breast milk, and crafting her own supplemental nursing system.

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:

In this episode I am joined by new parent Jenny Russell, a registered nurse from Tennessee. Jenny struggled with infertility during her previous marriage, became unexpectedly pregnant in a new relationship, and took the Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Class as a single parent without a support person. Her EBB Instructor taught the class and also served as her doula. Jenny works full time as a clinical analyst in evidence based nursing documentation. She is also a full time caregiver for her mother, who has early onset Alzheimer's. Jenny candidly shares the incredible pressures she faced in her prenatal care, including her traumatic and stressful experiences in choosing the right providers to work with her, and switching care to a midwife just weeks before her due date. We also talk about the importance of doulas, and the crucial role Jenny's amazing doulas filled during her birth and postpartum care.

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:

• Click here for information about tongue tie from the Mayo Clinic.
• Click here for an article explaining the dramatic rise in tongue and lip tie.
• Visit KellyMom for an article about breastfeeding a baby with tongue or lip tie.
• Click here for information on tongue and lip tie from La Leche League International.
• Click here to see the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act.
• Visit the Evidence Based Birth blog for all of our Signature Articles, such as The Evidence on: Erythromycin Eye Ointment for Newborns, and The Evidence on: Fetal Monitoring.

Follow Jenny on Facebook and Instagram. Click here for the Evidence Based Birth Signature Article, The Evidence on: Doulas. Click here for the Evidence Based Birth Signature Article, The Evidence on: Birthing Positions. Find an Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Class near you with this interactive map.

In this episode, I am excited to share the evidence on vaginal birth after Cesarean, or VBAC. We have received many requests at Evidence Based Birth to cover this topic, so I want to share with you the information on VBAC that I present in a class we teach in the EBB Higher Ed program. In this podcast, I define some common terms related to VBAC and talk about the history of the procedure. By the end, you will have the facts on the prevalence and risk factors for uterine rupture, and you'll understand some of the maternal, fetal, and newborn risks of VBAC, elective repeat Cesarean, and Cesarean birth after Cesarean.

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:

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists/ Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (2018). Placenta accreta spectrum. Obstetric Care Consensus No. 7. Obstet Gynecol, 132, e259-275. Click here. Free full text!
• Bujold, E., Goyet, M., Marcoux, S., et al. (2010). The role of uterine closure in the risk of uterine rupture. Obstet Gynecol, 116(1), 43-50.
• Carlton Fagerberg, M. and Källén, K. (2019). Third trimester prediction of successful vaginal birth after one cesarean delivery - a Swedish model. Acts Obstet Gynecol Scand. (Epub ahead of print.] Click here.
• Grobman, W. A., Lai, Y., Landon, M. B., et al. (2007). Development of a nomogram for prediction of vaginal birth after cesarean delivery. Obstet Gynecol, 109, 806. Click here.
  • VBAC calculator for use at first prenatal visit: https://mfmunetwork.bsc.gwu.edu/PublicBSC/MFMU/VGBirthCalc/vagbirth.html\
• Guise, J.-M., Eden, K., Emeis, C., et al. (2010). Vaginal Birth After Cesarean: New Insights. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No.191. (Prepared by the Oregon Health & Science University Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-2007-10057-I). AHRQ Publication No. 10-E003. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Click here. Free full text!
• Landon, M. B., Hauth, J. C., Leveno, K. J. et al. (2004). Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes Associated with a Trial of Labor after Prior Cesarean Delivery. N Engl J Med, 351, 258-2589. Click here. Free full text!
• Landon, M. B., Grobman, W. A. and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Maternal–Fetal Medicine Units Network (2016). What We Have Learned About Trial of Labor After Cesarean Delivery from the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Cesarean Registry. Seminars in perinatology, 40(5), 281–286. Click here. Free full text!
• Metz, T. D., Stoddard, G. J., Henry, E., et al. (2013). Simple, validated vaginal birth after cesarean delivery prediction model for use at the time of admission. Obstet Gynecol, 122, 571. Click here. Free full text!
  • VBAC calculator for use at time of admission for birth: https://mfmunetwork.bsc.gwu.edu/PublicBSC/MFMU/VGBirthCalc/vagbrth2.html
• Sandall, J., Tribe, R. M., Avery, L., et al. (2018). Short-term and long-term effects of caesarean section on the health of women and children. Lancet, 392(10155), 1349-1357. Click here.
• Silver, R. M., Landon, M. B., Rouse, D. J., et al. (2006). Maternal morbidity associated with multiple repeat cesarean deliveries. Obstet Gynecol, 107(6), 1226-1232. Click here.
• Smith, G. C. S., Pell, J. P., Cameron, A. D., et al. (2002). Risk of Perinatal Death Associated With Labor After Previous Cesarean Delivery in Uncomplicated Term Pregnancies. JAMA, 287(20), 2684–2690. Click here. Free full text!
• Vlemminx, M. W., de Lau, H. and Oei, S. G. (2017). Tocogram characteristics of uterine rupture: a systematic review. Archives of gynecology and obstetrics, 295(1), 17–26. Click here. Free full text!
• Access the International Cesarean Awareness Network's "Terminology: What is a CBAC?" here.
• Visit VBAC Facts here.
• Visit ICAN here.
• See the Association of Ontario Midwives Clinical Guidelines Statement on Vaginal Birth After Previous Low-Segment Cesarean Section here.
• Get the Association of Ontario Midwives handout, Thinking About VBAC: What's Right for Me, here.
• Get information on VBAC from Power to Push here (http://www.powertopush.ca/birth-options/types-of-birth/vaginal-birth-after-cesarean/).
• Click here (https://evidencebasedbirth.com/the-evidence-for-skin-to-skin-care-after-a-cesarean/) for the Evidence Based Birth® Signature Article, The Evidence on: Skin to Skin Care After Cesarean.

In this episode, I am joined by Evidence Based Birth Instructor Jessica Hazboun, a childbirth educator and registered nurse with a background in labor and delivery. Jessica created her own birth business, Nearly Nested, to help empower new parents with evidence based information. Hear Jessica detail her two very different birth stories, and how evidence based information changed her entire perspective on birth and how she relates to her clients and patients. In her words - "everything about the Evidence Based Birth culture completely knocked me off my feet!"

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 Jessica at Nearly Nested on Instagram, Facebook, and at nearlynested.com. Want to learn more about becoming an Evidence Based Birth Instructor? Applications for the Spring 2020 cohort open soon, and we are hosting a series of Q&A webinars all about the program, staring next week. Click here for all the details!