Evidence Based Birth®

This week, we cover the evidence on inducing labor versus waiting for labor to start on its own, when water has broken before the start of labor. For this podcast, we focus on when water breaks at 37 weeks of pregnancy or later. This is also known as pre-labor rupture of membranes, or PROM.

Jenn D’Jamoos is a CAPPA-certified childbirth educator and Evidence Based Birth Instructor, human rights activist and mom of four who lives in Michigan. She founded the Livingston County Birth Circle in 2013 to serve the needs of families in her area. While the stated goal of the LCBC is to provide non-judgmental support to expectant and new families, the organization also works to elevate conversation surrounding the birth experience.

Kelsi Kennedy is a birth doula serving women in the New York City and Westchester, NY area, and is also a grant writer for non-profit called The Birthing Circle in the greater Washington D.C. area. She has a Masters in Applied Psychology from NYU, and spent two years volunteering and interning as a data analyst for a human trafficking rescue, Restore NYC. Kelsi is also CEO & founder of a brand new ethical fashion business called rev thread. 

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 42 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.

Amber Ginn is a birth and postpartum doula in Puerto Rico. She had her first child at 15, and is dedicated to providing essential support to pregnant adolescents. Amber’s first birth was a traumatic experience, with interventions she was not educated or informed about, and she felt her concerns and questions were dismissed by her providers. She also battled postpartum depression with little support. Despite these challenges, Amber finished high school and college while caring for her son.

April Oglesby is a nurse and monitrice in Amarilo, Texas. She has been a nurse for 13 years, specializing in all types of care for mothers and babies. Recently, she left hospital work to start her own business, Welcome Baby! Throughout her hospital nursing career, she began to see huge deficits in the knowledge, education, empowerment and support for expecting families. She was frustrated watching patients receive care that was not evidence-based, and was often unnecessary.

Katie Rachanow leads the Military Birth Resource Network at the largest overseas installment in Europe, and has specialized knowledge of the military birth system. Katie is a doula, yoga instructor, and Evidence Based Birth instructor practicing in Germany. She recently moved there following a two-year tour in Colorado Springs and a five-year tour in the UK. 

Juliet Swedlund is the director of the Topeka Doula Project, a nonprofit offering evidence based doula support to teen mothers, incarcerated and reintegrating mothers, and low-income mothers and their families. Juliet has worked as a birth doula for four years, and has 16 years experience working in health and wellness. She achieved her DONA Birth Doula certification in 2016, and became an Evidence Based Birth® Instructor in 2018.

Doula and Evidence Based Birth® Instructor Traci Weafer gives a glimpse into the challenges and successes of working with birthing families in Alabama. After having her first child, Traci realized many in her community lacked birth education, and she noticed gaps in maternity care. Her passion to educate led her to early opportunities to learn from midwives and she eventually launched her career as a doula.

This wrap-up of pain management series covers the many different drug and non-drug comfort measures during labor. Learn our overall takeaway. To learn more about the EBB Professional Membership, visit https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/

How conscious breathing might work to provide pain relief during labor? How common it is to use breathing techniques for pain relief during labor? To learn more about the EBB Professional Membership, visit https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/

Is relaxation for pain relief effective? Learn techniques that can be used during labor and find out which (if any) are supported by evidence. To learn more about the EBB Professional Membership, visit https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/

What is a rebozo? You’ll learn how using a rebozo during labor may help with pain relief. We’ll discuss its traditional use and the limited research evidence. To learn more about the EBB Professional Membership, visit https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/

In this video, we look at the evidence for listening to music during labor. Does it help with pain relief? What is the best music for relaxation? To learn more about the EBB Professional Membership, visit https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/

We discuss the evidence on using massage for pain relief during labor and for pain in general. What benefits does massage provide? What types of massage might be helpful during labor? To learn more about the EBB Professional Membership, visit https://evidencebasedbirth.com/become-pro-member/