In this episode I interview my mother, Carol, about her experience giving birth with “twilight sleep” - a state of sedation and general anesthesia that used to be administered during the second stage of labor. Carol is a mother of six. She has experienced three different types of childbirth: birth with twilight sleep, birth with an epidural, and birth without an epidural fully awake. She’s also a retired nurse and a retired pediatric nurse practitioner. With Mothers’ Day coming up in a couple of weeks, I thought it would be fun to share with you an interview that my mom did with my college students a few years ago. I’m excited for you to hear her incredibly interesting perspectives on birth.

I also want to announce that we are having a special Mothers’ Day sale! We will be sending out an email to our list this coming Saturday (join our email list via the link in the resources below!) to roll out a special limited-edition gift bundle that we have created.

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:

Join the Evidence Based Birth email list to get notified of our special events, sales, and more! Sign up for our “free crash course” on our home page.

Click here to see the Evidence Based Birth Signature Article on Friedman’s Curve and Failure to Progress. 

In this episode, I interview Dr. Nicole Rankins about the role of a hospitalist obstetrician, and how families can prepare themselves to have a safe and fulfilling birth in a hospital setting. Nicole is a wife and mother to two girls, an obstetrician/gynecologist, a podcast host, and an integrative health coach. She did her residency at Duke University, and also did a research fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill. Nicole currently practices at a community hospital in Virginia, and she loves helping women enjoy healthy births and healthy lives. She started the All About Pregnancy and Birth podcast in 2019, and she offers online childbirth education. As a hospitalist obstetrician, 99% of her work is on the labor and delivery unit.

We talk about the role of the hospitalist and what women need to know about this model of care, as well as Nicole’s preventative and health promotion work in her community. We also discuss the problem of compassion fatigue, and the struggles and pressures faced by physicians in connecting with the wider birth world. 

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 Nicole on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , and her website . @drnicolerankins

Check out Nicole’s podcast, All About Pregnancy and Birth! Get the download links here.

In this week's podcast, I interview new parents Heather Hyden and Jimmy Earley. They live in Lexington, Kentucky, and were one of the first couples to take the Evidence Based Birth Childbirth Class in 2018. Heather works at a local university, and Jimmy works at a local nonprofit. Their son Kess turned 9 months on the day we recorded this episode. Theirs is a unique story in that this pregnancy was actually their second. Their first baby had a fatal condition and that first pregnancy was not considered to be viable. Finding care appropriate for their family was difficult.

Heather looked forward to a healing home birth, but plans changed. At 34 weeks Heather no longer felt that home was the right environment for them for a variety of reasons. Thanks to the EBB Childbirth Class, the couple felt a shift in their confidence and no longer feared a hospital birth as they did before. What followed was a winding, 30+ hour journey to meeting their baby.

Heather and Jimmy found out about the EBB Childbirth Class through multiple recommendations from their doula, a local friend, AND their OBGYN. They were attracted to the online flexibility, the tactile learning tools, and the role playing aspects of the class.

What I love about Heather's story is how she and Jimmy had tools to advocate for themselves. They were able to utilize a variety of options in labor, including one of my new favorite techniques - a pre-pushing 'huddle' with the staff! We discuss how to keep a supportive birth team and entering parenthood free from the judgement of others. (And certainly not least, the reminder to have a food plan and proper nourishment!)

RESOURCES

Click here for information on the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

Click here to see the book The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother.

Click here to find an EBB Childbirth Class near you.