Research-forward birth education with a human center.
Evidence Based Birth® is a practical guide to pregnancy and childbirth decisions, with research evidence placed beside real birth experiences. It suits people who want calm explanations of induction, fetal monitoring, doula care, midwifery, and hospital communication without losing sight of autonomy.
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Evidence Based Birth® approaches pregnancy and childbirth with the assumption that better information can change the room. The show is not breezy advice. It is structured education, usually beginning with a real decision or a care problem and then moving into research, guidelines, communication, and personal experience. Rebecca Decker anchors the show as a nurse with a PhD and founder of Evidence-Based Birth, and the conversations often sit at the intersection of clinical evidence and patient autonomy. Induction is a recurring focus. Episodes examine elective induction, inducing at 41 weeks or later, and the practical work of making a decision when benefits, risks, timing, and personal values are all in play. The show is comfortable with statistics, including composite outcomes, APGAR scores, NICU admission, stillbirth, bleeding, severe tears, and cesarean rates. It is also careful about language. A discussion of decision aids emphasizes sixth-grade reading level, gender-neutral wording, second-person framing, and nonjudgmental terms so that a tool can be useful beyond people with high health literacy or privileged access to medical information. That concern for access shows up elsewhere too. Episodes cover Medicaid coverage for doula care, global midwifery standards, and how maternity systems can either support or sideline the person giving birth. Hospital communication is another central thread. Conversations about TeamBirth, electronic fetal monitoring, and advocacy during labor keep returning to the same problem: decisions often happen around patients instead of with them. The show also includes birth stories, including Paige Wiener and Kevin Booth describing a surprise preeclampsia diagnosis and a 54-hour induction that changed their expectations. These stories are not presented as spectacle. They are used to make preparation, uncertainty, and peace with a changed plan feel concrete. Evidence Based Birth® occasionally steps outside a narrow pregnancy-topic lane, as in its episode on AI in the workplace, but even there the concerns are consistent: privacy, cost, environmental impact, and responsible use. The overall feel is patient, serious, and practical. It is for listeners who want more than reassurance and less than alarm. It names harms when needed, but it keeps the center of gravity on informed choice, care, and the skills people need to participate in decisions about birth.
Made for: For pregnant people, families, doulas, nurses, midwives, childbirth educators, and other birth professionals who want evidence explained in plain language. It especially suits listeners preparing for hospital birth, induction decisions, fetal monitoring conversations, or advocacy within complex maternity systems.
What sets it apart: The show combines peer-reviewed childbirth research with practical decision support and birth stories, keeping both data and lived experience in view. Its strongest distinction is the steady focus on autonomy, equity, and communication rather than simply listing clinical recommendations.
In the Evidence Based Birth® podcast, we cover the research evidence on hot topics about pregnancy and childbirth! Our mission is to help birth workers build the evidence based knowledge, skills, and power they need to protect families' ability to give birth with empowerment. The work we do has a huge impact on parents who are searching for accurate information to empower their prenatal, birth, and postpartum experiences!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Childbirth evidence becomes usable here, with clinical findings connected to decisions, communication, equity, and the systems surrounding maternity care.
Evidence Based Birth turns childbirth research into questions that can be used in a hospital room. Rebecca Decker, a nurse with a PhD, moves between close readings of clinical evidence and conversations with guests working in maternity care, keeping informed decision-making at…
Rebecca Decker turns the induction decision into numbers you can actually bring into the room.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear, equity-minded look at making induction decisions easier to understand and more genuinely shared.
Choosing whether to induce labor can quickly become a question of who gets clear evidence and who has to work too hard to find it. This episode follows that question through Partner to Decide's routine-induction aid, with Anne Peralta connecting the project to her own perinatal…
Evidence-Based Birth looks at AI through privacy, sustainability, workplace costs, and the accuracy of birth information.
AI is no longer a distant technology question for Evidence-Based Birth; it is already shaping the tools used by birth workers, expecting families, and the company itself.
A measured review of late-term induction evidence, with clear attention to what the outcomes show and what they do not.
Induction at 41 weeks or later is treated here as a research-shaped choice, not a deadline that automatically decides the issue. The hosts set elective induction beside expectant management and track the maternal and newborn outcomes that matter, including the lower combined…
A clear look at how simple team communication can return patients to the center of hospital birth.
Hospital birth can turn into a communication challenge quickly: details get missed, decisions happen away from the bedside, and the patient can lose their place at the center of care. Dr.
A steady look at how midwifery standards, regulation, and leadership shape care globally.
Global midwifery comes through as a care model, but also as a question of systems. Stephanie Marriott lays out how ICM defines the profession, sets standards for education and regulation, and works with national governments, the United Nations, international NGOs, and partners…
A grounded look at breastfeeding support, workplace pressure, childcare costs, and policy barriers.
Breastfeeding inequities are framed here as a matter of work, policy, mentorship, and the everyday conditions that decide whether lactation is actually sustainable. Dr.
A grounded conversation about training Black doulas as part of maternal health advocacy.
Brandy Bishop's move from birth work toward training and leadership gives this episode its center: Black maternal health advocacy depends not only on care in the room, but on who is being prepared to provide it.
Pregnancy science with a steady hand.
Home birth, one long story at a time.
Warm perinatal talk for messy motherhood.
Pregnancy guidance with warmth, evidence, and agency.
Alicia Race discusses how climate change and extreme weather impact expecting families.
Rebecca Decker interviews Mary Farrelly about how NICU-informed doulas can support families navigating the NICU.
Dr.
Rebecca Decker interviews Brandy Bishop, CEO of the National Black Doulas Association, about her journey into birth work.
This episode discusses how to decide whether to have an elective induction of labor, featuring experts Dr.
Rebecca Decker discusses Evidence-Based Birth's stance on the use of AI in their workplace, addressing the growing use of AI tools like ChatGPT by birth workers and families.
Rebecca Decker and Dr.
Paige and Kevin share their experience with a surprise preeclampsia diagnosis and a 54-hour induction, finding peace with an unplanned birth.
Dr.
Team Birth uses a dry erase board, four sections, and scheduled huddles to make the patient the center of care.
Bangladesh's national cesarean rate reached 52%, and private hospitals were reported as high as 90%.
Rebecca Decker interviews Amy Chen about Medicaid coverage for doula care and introduces a new doula workbook.
EBB childbirth class graduates Hopey Fink and Ben Levin share their story of navigating a 41-week induction and having an empowering hospital birth experience.
This episode reviews evidence on warm compresses and hands-on versus hands-off techniques for preventing perineal tears during childbirth.