Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:00:00:
Hi everyone on today’s podcast we’re joined by EBB Childbirth Graduates Rivka and Steven Dubinsky as they share their journey from a traumatic first birth to an empowering second birth experience. Welcome to the Evidence Based Birth® Podcast. My name is Rebecca Dekker, and I’m a nurse with my PhD and the founder of Evidence Based Birth®. Join me each week as we work together to get evidence-based information into the hands of families and professionals around the world. As a reminder, this information is not medical advice. See ebbirth.com/disclaimer for more details. Hi everyone and welcome to today’s episode of the Evidence Based Birth® Podcast. I am so excited to have Rivka and Steven on to share their birth stories. Rivka is an accountant by trade and now a stay-at-home mom to her two children, Yehudis and Sarah. Rivka and her family live in Columbus, Ohio, where Rivka enjoys embracing the joys and challenges of motherhood while staying connected to her passions. Rivka has a deep love for advocacy and believes in empowering others through knowledge and support. When she’s not busy with her little ones, she loves creating and cultivating new things, whether in the garden or through hands-on projects. Steven is a dedicated nursing home operator who is passionate about providing quality care for the elderly. With a commitment to ensuring that residents receive the best possible support, he works to create a compassionate and well-run environment. When he’s not managing operations, Steven enjoys spending time with Rivka and their two children at their home in Columbus. Rivka and Steven are here together to share their birth stories, and they hope their journey resonates with and inspires those of you who are listening. Rivka and Steven, welcome to the Evidence Based Birth® Podcast.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:01:48:
Thanks. We’re happy to be here.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:01:50:
So can you tell us a little bit about, you know, your first birth experience and how that kind of set the stage for everything that happened later on?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:01:59:
Yeah, definitely. So our daughter Yehudis is seven now, so we have a decent age gap. We lived in Florida when we had her. And we kind of just went into everything with, like, you know, a lot of trust in the system. And everything was, you know, just going to work out well because why wouldn’t it? I’m from a big family. I’ve been around lots of babies. You know, never at a birth before ours, but familiar with the concept. So she was not going anywhere. She ended up being a 41-week induction. The day before my induction, my doctor said she’s sunny side up. If she’s still sunny side up when it’s time to come out and she’s not movable, then that’s an automatic C-section. That didn’t end up happening, but, you know, that’s kind of what was in my mind. And it was even in the pre-ARRIVE days. That was in 2017. So in my mind, induction meant I’m probably having a C-section. And, you know, that kind of set the groundwork. Then when we came in for the induction the night before, immediately hooked up to an IV and continuous monitoring all night. And I had Cervadil then in the morning. They started the Pitocin and pretty much from that moment after they turned on the Pitocin, the nurse said, okay, so now if you need to go to the bathroom, I’ll bring you a bedpan and you’re pretty much in the bed from here on out. And I didn’t like I wasn’t expecting that. And they didn’t tell me that beforehand. I didn’t know what I could advocate for. Hmm. So that was kind of the majority of, you know, my doctor came in, broke my water without telling me what he was doing. Eventually, when it was time to push, it was very quick. I only pushed for 20 minutes. But I had an episiotomy. Didn’t tell me about beforehand. Immediately, she was taken to the warmer. There for 40 minutes. Again, her APGAR was like eight or nine. So there wasn’t really a medical reason that I can think of. Maybe initially there was my meconium in the waters, but I don’t know why she was there for so long. And I didn’t know that, you know, I assumed that they were going to bring her to me as soon as she could come to me. So I didn’t say anything. So that’s pretty much the birth story. And then just to add to the complexity, my father was sick at the time. She was two months old. He went into a coma and then died when she was three months old. So a kind of a lot went on. The last, I guess, important piece is, I don’t know if it was from the episiotomy or from the tearing or both, but I had nerve damage that never went away. And I’ve done all the things, you know, I’ve seen every pelvic floor physical therapist that exists in this area. I’ve seen the specialists. So at this point, it’s just what it is. But that definitely added to, like, I guess how I feel about my experience after the fact.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:04:58:
It sounds like it was a pretty traumatic experience. Did you always view it that way from the beginning or did it take you a while to realize?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:05:05:
No, it took me a while. It took me years. When I was in therapy for other things and we were talking about medical trauma and I was saying I didn’t really think I had any. And then we kind of went over my birth story and discovered that I had a lot of it. Something I struggled with was, how can I call it traumatic? I didn’t bleed out. I didn’t almost die. My baby was healthy. Like, everything was fine. There were no medical complexities. But then I joined a couple of like birth trauma Facebook groups and I saw that probably 95% of the posts started with, I know what happened to me isn’t as bad as what happened to anybody else. But, and it didn’t matter if they almost bled out or if their story was more similar to mine. So that was kind of eye-opening to me that trauma is…
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:05:52:
Everybody kind of like downplays their… what happened to them as not being that bad.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:05:57:
Exactly. It’s really just… it affects you and your experience and really not compared to anybody else’s experience.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:06:07:
Steven, what about you going through that first birth experience? What was it like from your end?
Steven Dubinsky – 00:06:13:
You know, we were very young. We were also, you know, newlyweds. We, I think we got pregnant within six months of getting married. We. We got married within 90 days of meeting each other. I think there is a show, we could have been eligible for it. But it was all very, you know, we really just didn’t know what to expect. I think even, you know, like we said, through the years after the birthing story, after the birth, we didn’t really realize that her being, you know, bed bound for no reason and her, you know, not having the option to drink or eat at, you know, once that kicked in. I think, you know, my biggest regret was really just not knowing enough to advocate for Rivka. And we had a doula who, you know, maybe I just assumed that doula would be the advocate. And I was kind of just there to. You know. I don’t know what really I was doing there, but, you know, I think really my biggest regret is not knowing enough to be the support that Rivka, you know, needed.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:07:13:
It’s like you didn’t know what you didn’t know.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:07:15:
I mean, I wasn’t pushing anything out. I was having a good time. I think I, you know, maybe I had a couple shots in there or something, you know, I was having a good time. I don’t think I even understood the severity of, of, of what was happening and, and, you know, the different ways in which, you know, knowing what I know now, I should have been there. So for me, it really was just, you know, it’s amazing. It’s a great time. And, you know, the doctors are going to be professionals and make sure that whatever is going to happen is going to be, you know, to Rivka. And the baby’s betterment, which as we know now, A lot of things could have happened differently, but. You know, we were young and it was our first and we just really didn’t, we weren’t educated.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:07:56:
And to be perfectly fair, we did have a great time. And there was a lot of laughter. We were joking through pushing. Like, you know, we did have a great time. And that’s part of why it took so long to really process what happened. Neither of us really just knew what could be different. So it wasn’t.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:08:14:
Yeah. And was there anything as you started processing your birth that really stuck out at you in terms of, you know, was it having your autonomy taken away? Was it the interventions or the nerve damage? What was it that seemed to be like the hardest part?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:08:29:
Yeah. Number one is the lack of autonomy. Number two was the nerve damage, the physical outcome that I guess the birth injury.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:08:41:
I would say number three would be the baby not being on you.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:08:44:
Honestly, that’s right up there with number one, the autonomy and her being separated from me. For no reason.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:08:51:
It kind of goes hand in hand.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:08:52:
Yes.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:08:53:
Yeah. You weren’t prioritized as a family. It was just about the medical procedures and getting things done. It sounds like.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:09:02:
Yeah. Like, I’m really not… I didn’t go into it wanting a natural birth. I’ve got no problem with medical interventions. You know, you’ll hear from my second story, medically it wasn’t that different. And I, the whole experience was the opposite. So that I was not, I did not do, you know, like a real birthing class or anything with the first. The interventions were not the problem. In fact, I had, I’ve had surgeries that were less traumatic because I knew going in what was going to happen. I basically woke up to pictures in my inbox from my doctor of everything that was done. And I have no sense of violation from any of that because I know I knew going in. I knew what what was, what the plan was. And then he let me know all the changes and what. So it really wasn’t the fact that birth is a vulnerable experience or anything like that. It was the actions that were done to take away my autonomy, not really give me a voice in the process that I didn’t know I needed to fight for.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:10:07:
Right. And then the nerve injury was probably a direct result of not consulting you.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:10:12:
I believe so, because 20 minutes of pushing, like what was the episiotomy for? You know, I don’t, nobody can pinpoint exactly what went wrong and therefore what could cause it, what caused it exactly. But I mean, I have my suspicions. I read 200 pages of medical notes.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:10:33:
And where in Florida was this first birth?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:10:35:
Miami. Mercy Hospital.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:10:39:
So tell us then what happened next, because you said there’s a bit of a gap between your two children. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:10:45:
Yeah. So for starters, I wasn’t even sure if I ever wanted to go through that again, ever. So that was a big part of it. It took me a while to like bring my head around, like maybe this is something I can do again. And once I got to that point that like we wanted another baby and the only reason we weren’t trying for that was really my fear, I started interviewing doctors. I think I met with five and across three different hospital systems. And in that process, I met Allie, who was my Evidence Based Birth® instructor. And she helped me like with my lists of, you know, I think she added a couple names and took some off for me. And she also helped me talk me through the hospital systems, which I think is a really big piece of it. And when I told her everything I wanted.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:11:34:
Was this still in Florida or is this in Ohio?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:11:36:
No, so this was after we moved to Ohio. So we moved to Ohio when our first was a year now. So a whole new place, whole new culture. And I told her kind of what I was looking for. And at that time, I was planning to have a C-section. I wasn’t going to do a vaginal birth ever again. Nobody could say why that happened. And therefore, I wasn’t going to risk it. So I had my list of like, this is what I want in a C-section. And also trauma-informed care was extremely important to me. So met with, and so she said, St. Anne’s, that’s the hospital you need to be at. So I met with a bunch of doctors and there were two that I really liked. One, I knew his office was going to drive me crazy every time I had to deal with them. And the other, like her practice was, it was really universal. Like the trauma informed care and like the respectful care was across the board. There were two women OBGYNs that they covered all their own costs. And the biggest thing when I asked her what I would do, I would come in with my list of like, this is what I want. Will you support a maternal request C-section? And can I have these things? So I asked her that question and her answer was yes. You know, she didn’t have to like some of the other answers I got was, you know, yeah, we’ll counsel on risks and benefits. We’ll have that conversation. Oh, hearing your story. Yeah, I see why you want that, okay. It was just it was just, you know, straight. Yes. And then we obviously had the conversation and I told her my story and we talked about the risks and benefits. But like just her gut response is, yes, I support what you need. So that was a reward there.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:13:10:
Did you say the name of the doctor?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:13:11:
I don’t know. Can I say her name? Is that Dr. Angela Rouse? She’s amazing in every way. And then it took a while. We didn’t get pregnant right away like we did with our first. So we ended up needing fertility treatment. I don’t know. With our first, you get pregnant. And then. You don’t see your doctor for like eight weeks. I remember like thinking, am I really pregnant? You know, maybe I imagined it. Do I need to pee on another stick? But I was having ultrasounds frequently and blood work and more blood work. And, you know, I figured out if I drive to the hospital, it’s a little bit further from my house. But then by the time I get home, I’ll have results within 10 minutes. Instead of having to wait another couple hours, anyone who’s done infertility treatment will, you know, resonate with those things, I think.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:13:56:
And then what did you go about doing differently with this pregnancy than to educate yourself?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:14:02:
For starters, I had the doctor I chose. And then also in the back of my mind, I had several other doctors that I was technically a patient of, but I didn’t tell them that I wasn’t actually establishing care. I was just interviewing them. So I figured if for whatever reason I hate her or I hate their office or something’s not a fit, I have options. I can switch and it won’t be as complicated. That didn’t happen. But it kind of helped me feel safe going into the process. And I’m kind of an information junkie, Steven calls me sometimes. So when, like, I just read everything and learned everything. And tried to find out what my options would be. So that I felt more prepared going in.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:14:42:
Mm-hmm. And so learning is like a hobby of yours.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:14:45:
Kind of. Yeah.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:14:46:
I totally identify with that.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:14:47:
It’s sort of passive. Like I’m not, I don’t set out to learn, but if there’s something I’m interested in, the information just finds me. Yes, I have spent several hours reading, so it’s not, you know, but it’s not, I don’t work at it. It just comes to me.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:15:02:
You just absorb it and soak it up. Yeah. So how did you find out about the Evidence Based Birth® childbirth class or EBB in general?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:15:10:
Yeah. So I started interviewing doulas and then I reached back out to Allie also because we’d had been in touch before and she offered two classes. One was Evidence Based Birth® and one was hypnobirthing. And I was not in like the frame of mind where I could consider something like hypnobirthing. I didn’t believe in birth or any of those things. I feel like you need a lot more trust than I had. But I, so I felt like Evidence Based Birth® more, it was something I could be more open to than some other form. That’s kind of how I chose it. Yeah, I interviewed a few doulas, but to be honest, the ones that I really felt like would be a good fit for me, it was cost prohibitive. And the value is there. It’s not that I don’t think it’s worth it, but I also had a difficult postpartum experience. And when I looked at the money that we were going to be spending, a labor and birth doula was pretty much the same as four weeks of twice a week overnights. And I prioritized postpartum in that sense. So we did not end up hiring any of the private doulas that we interviewed, even though there were at least three that I really would have wanted to. But we just didn’t go that route.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:16:33:
But you still had contact with your EBB instructor.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:16:36:
Yes. And she was really helpful with everything. And she looked over my birth plan. And she really talked me through it. She suggested some other options.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:16:46:
And, we also took that course to really put me in that. Spot to step up there.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:16:51:
Right. And, yes and, the like the advocacy lesson I think was the one that you took the most seriously, really put it into practice.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:17:02:
Yeah. Steven, tell us a little bit about that. Like, what did you learn either about childbirth or about advocacy or partner support that you?
Steven Dubinsky – 00:17:09:
I think the most important thing was getting a clear understanding of what Rivka’s. What Rivka’s wishes would be if she’s not in a position to make a decision. So getting a really clear basis of, you know, how can I act in Rivka’s stead if she needs me to. So just, you know, sitting down with her and going through her birth plan and going through scenarios with her and, you know, getting her 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 list of very important things that she wants to make sure happen. So just sitting with Rivka, making sure I have that clear. And then it’s just, you know, getting prepared and making sure that I know that I can in the moment. Hey, everyone stop or, you know. You know, make sure that I’m in a position where I’m going to, where I’m going to step up in that way for her. And I think we had a really good time with it. It was a very positive experience. We actually signed up for the, for like the encore doula.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:18:12:
So the hospital has a doula program where it’s subsidized, but you only get whoever’s on call. And I had talked to the coordinator and she kind of, she made it seem like she could shortlist specific ones that she thought would be a match for me.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:18:26:
She tells everyone that.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:18:27:
I was right. It didn’t happen when it came down to it. Joe, you can take it from here.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:18:33:
Yeah, so I think we were probably, was it maybe like 12 hours into it by the time?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:18:39:
No, it was only like five.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:18:41:
Okay. It seemed like 12 or 30. We were like five hours into the, you know, the birthing process by the time the doula showed up. And we were just like in a zone. We were, we have like a good play set going, playlist going. We, you know, we were, we were just like in a really good zone and a doula came in who I think maybe wasn’t as, you know, seasoned of a doula. She, you know, she came in with like very doula-y energy. I don’t know if that exists, but I think it does. She, she was like let me give you a massage, and Rivka, is like, okay yeah, I, Rivka was like, I could sense very clearly, almost like, um, like appeasing the the doula instead of being-
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:19:24:
I was entertaining her.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:19:25:
Right. And I could just sense that like the energy in the room had shifted from when the doula got there. She was maybe there for like 45 minutes. And Rivka, you know as she was dealing with this uh birthing process was getting up and walking around going to the bathroom so Rivka went to use, I think you just kind, of wanted to like get out of that like environment?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:19:45:
Yeah, I’m pretty sure, that was the excuse, I went to take a shower, but I think, I just needed a break.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:19:49:
So, I went into the shower room with Rivka and I said… This is not working right with this deal. And she’s like, yeah, I don’t like, I really just, I’m not feeling it. And I said, you need me to just cut her loose. And Rivka said, yeah. So Rivka stayed in the, she didn’t like, it was awkward, obviously. So Rivka stayed in the shower room. I went out and I went to the doula and I was like. You are so great and we really appreciate everything. But we got it from here. And she was like a little confused. And I was like, You got to go. Um, so the doula, I mean, she wasn’t getting it. So I, you know, I was like, it’s, we got, thank you. But we got it. We’re going to be going in another direction.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:20:29:
You said that?
Steven Dubinsky – 00:20:32:
And so she, she got it. You know, she took the very obvious hint. And then the nurse was like, did you just fire the doula? And I, you know, and I was like, you know, unfortunately, we had to make the decision the best that’s already been made.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:20:43:
I think that is one of the drawbacks to kind of that on-call doula. Like they I’m sure in many situations it’s very helpful. But if it’s not the right fit, you don’t already have a trusting relationship with them. You know, like it’s not.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:20:58:
I mean, you’re your luck of the draw. I know for someone else, she would have been a fantastic fit. And she did have an energy that I think some people would like. But I think we were already in a zone where like, I think what Rivka needed, I was giving her. Thank God I was, you know, very we were very prepared and very intentional. And that really was the plan. We kind of almost had the doula as like a back up.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:21:17:
I had very specific needs. I was really scared that similar things would happen and that I would not be able to find my voice and that he wouldn’t step in and be it. So that’s really what I needed. I wasn’t looking for all the pain relief options. I wasn’t looking for hands on support. I didn’t want any of that. Maybe if it was somebody who I already had a connection with, that would have been welcome. But it just turned out that I had a voice the whole time and he was there to step in whenever I didn’t. So I didn’t need another person and it just interfered with our flow. So.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:21:50:
Wow, that just gave me chills when you said I had my voice the whole time. That’s amazing. Can we rewind a little bit? You were telling me a few minutes ago that you were planning an elective Cesarean and now we’re in a vaginal birth story. So what shifted, what kind of birth were you planning and how did those changes take place?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:22:14:
Okay. So my doctor, she discussed every single option for every single kind of birth ad nauseum, the entire pregnancy. She was so patient and had no problem going through things again and again and again. And what she kept telling me was we’re going to plan for whatever you want to plan for. And I think that your gut is going to tell you what you want to do. So we will discuss all the risks and benefits. We will talk about all the statistics. But your gut is going to tell you what you want to do at the end. And that’s what happened. So we she said at 24 weeks, that’s when the schedule opens. We’ll schedule your C-section for whatever you want. If you want 39 weeks, if you want it 41 weeks, you know, whatever you want. So we scheduled it at 41 weeks because at that point, I just didn’t want another induction. That’s where most of my fears lay. And I figured, let’s see what happens. If I go to labor on my own, maybe everything will be different. So that was kind of where we settled. And like, I think I really knew that I was at a certain point.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:23:11:
We wanted it on the table so that you, as like a security, if you didn’t feel comfortable that you could have that to layer back on. But I think your gut the whole time really was pushing you towards.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:23:23:
Definitely by halfway through, I think I really knew I was going to end up having a vaginal birth, but I didn’t admit that out loud. And then towards the end, I was officially high risk. So I was being followed by MFM. But the way the MFM doctor put it, I was high risk, but there were a lot of risk factors, but we weren’t super concerned about any of them in my case. So I have rheumatoid arthritis, which I didn’t have when I had my first. I was on a number of medications and, you know, some other things that hypothyroidism that acts up in pregnancy. There were enough things on the table that, you know, an ultrasound a month is indicated. Let’s make sure the baby’s growing well. But my first baby was 8 pounds, 10 ounces at 41 weeks. So he said, even if all these things affect birth weight, you have 3 pounds to play around with that’s still healthy. So nobody was really very concerned, but I did have a good amount of monitoring. So I last saw them at, I think, 32 weeks, and he said everything’s good. And then I had a 36-week ultrasound at my doctor to kind of make sure everything was still good. And I know how you and some of the doula community feel about those. But again, that’s not me. I want the monitoring. I want the information. And I’m never going to be the person. If I had an intervention that turned out to not be 100% necessary, I’m not going to be the person who regrets that. If the out is what we wanted and I agreed with the reasons for it, then I’m not going to have regrets about that. So 36 weeks, she was measuring big as we suspected compared to my first. And my fluid was low. On the low side, which happened with my first also. So I asked for another one because I didn’t want to go until 41 weeks if I was going to have a 10-pound baby. So at 39 weeks, I came in on a Monday and I had ultrasound. And again, the fluid was much lower. And it took like 28 and a half minutes for her to get through the biophysical profile to do all the movement. And that was really unusual. She was very active. So that really didn’t sit right with me. And she was, I was feeling decreased movement also. And, you know, my doctor said a pass is a pass. So it’s okay, but if you don’t feel right, it’s safe to do an induction at this point. So we agreed on that. And the hospital said, you know, tough luck. We don’t have anything available for another 10 days. So I did not get a scheduled induction at that point. And then that was Monday. And I had, I had an appointment on the calendar on Wednesday that we were going to cancel. But after that appointment, can I just come back on Wednesday? Can we check on the baby again? Like, it just doesn’t feel right to me. So, again, it took the full, like, 29 minutes for her to, you know, do all the movement things she’s supposed to be. And I just didn’t, I wasn’t comfortable with that. And she said, you know what? Technically, a pass is a pass. But if you’re not comfortable, we trust your gut. Let’s get you on the fetal monitor. And she was having decells. So from there, they said, at this point, the hospital doesn’t get to say no. So I went straight from their office to the hospital. It wasn’t an emergent induction or anything, but it was just, you know, I’m not leaving without one.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:26:50:
Medically indicated. Yeah. And how far along were you at this point?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:26:53:
39 plus 4.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:26:55:
Okay.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:26:55:
And to be honest, I had packed my seven-year-old’s overnight bag that morning. My birth bag was three quarters packed at that point. I was not surprised. And there’s that little question in my mind. Was it an emergency or was she making it happen because she knew that’s what I needed?
Steven Dubinsky – 00:27:17:
All right, get this baby out.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:27:18:
I don’t think she made anything up. I think the risks were real. But I think if I had said, I desperately do not want an induction. Can you monitor me for longer? Can I come back in tomorrow? I think she would have been willing to have that conversation with me.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:27:28:
Yeah.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:27:29:
But. She was also kind of upset that the hospital was putting us 10 days out.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:27:33:
Right.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:27:33:
She was not happy about that. So I didn’t feel pressure. I didn’t feel like the sense of urgency that I’m killing my baby if I don’t drive straight to the hospital. I didn’t feel any of those things. It was my choice. We just didn’t need to have the conversation because we were on the same page.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:27:47:
Yeah.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:27:48:
So I went to the hospital from there. And so I had had a vaginal exam or a cervical check that morning in the office because we were going to try stripping membranes, which she did, but it ended up being irrelevant. So I knew I was at a three. So I got to triage and they didn’t even ask me for another cervical check, which, to be honest, was one of the things I was scared about, I guess. I’ve done this before, right? I had a baby before. I wasn’t scared of cervical exam. Felt badly about not being able to refuse things. And I know you can refuse anything but also, if you say no, and then they leave you in triage for 12 hours. You know, like I didn’t feel like there were good options. You didn’t want to have that one.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:28:33:
Chance to refuse like, kind of create an unpleasant.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:28:35:
Exactly.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:28:35:
Yeah. I know what you mean like, that desire for harmony and peace, and not upsetting people. Yeah.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:28:41:
It’s like, I, I think, if you, if you’re a tough patient, and you know, you’re not necessarily, getting your, your, your wish, which is like better care. Usually you like create this like weird environment of like a crazy person, in, in room two. Like you don’t want to be.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:28:58:
Right.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:28:58:
You know, contrarian to like what, they want you to do. But you know.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:29:02:
I just wanted the power to say no, and then I would have said yes. And I didn’t feel like, I had the power to say no, going in, but then they didn’t even ask me. She’s just like, well if you were three this morning, then we already know, we’re not doing, we’re not doing, cervical ripening. So it doesn’t change the plan. It was the nurse, I didn’t even get to the doctor, uh-
Steven Dubinsky – 00:29:18:
I think that’s also the difference in hospital, right?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:29:20:
Yes. It’s vastly different. So I asked for wireless monitor, tub room, and a trauma-informed nurse. Of those three things, I got wireless monitoring. The tub room was not available and the first nurse we were assigned, was it the best fit? I will say she was still better than every single nurse I encountered at my first birth.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:29:43:
She was also a very good nurse.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:29:44:
Yes. And she was really friendly and really nice, but she very clearly had in her mind what she felt was safe and what was right. So for example, my doctor and I had, again, we talked about every detail. So I knew she was comfortable with me eating. We had talked, she said, if things go wrong and it looks like you’re going to need a C-section, that’s when I would stop, ask you to stop eating. Epidural, I don’t care. Like through, you know, at that point, and that felt really reasonable to me. I was very comfortable with that. And actually when we did the hospital tour, the nurse who was giving the tour, she was able to pinpoint who our doctor was based on what I said about eating. She said, that’s Dr. Rouse. I’ve had discussions with her and that’s why I’m comfortable with it now. So this nurse was, she was very clearly not like, yeah. And she’s like, well, you know, that’s what your doctor is comfortable with. What are you comfortable with? And technically it’s up to anesthesia. I’m like, well, yeah, but I’m not an anesthesia patient right now. I don’t have an epidural. So she’s like, okay, fine, I’ll get you a menu. I didn’t need a menu. We keep kosher. He brought me food. And yes, I did have a fried fish sandwich. It was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. But from that point, I just ate until I didn’t want to anymore. And it was great. And, like, other things, like… she said, well, if they’re going to break your water, you’re going to if you’re going to get an epidural anyway, you want to get it before they break your water. And I said, I don’t really think I want to do that. I think I’ll just ask for the epidural when I want it. And then when the new nurse came in for like handoff, she said that again. She said we talked about that. She’s going to want to get the epidural before her water before they break your water. So it wasn’t a problem because the new nurse was wonderful and I we only had her for like four hours. That’s why we didn’t bother asking. I think.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:31:29:
It was right on the line of like I think also because I was we had such a good thing going with us. But like that nurse at that time didn’t really matter that much.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:31:37:
That wasn’t an active labor yet.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:31:39:
Yeah, I think if we if you were, maybe we would have, you know, requested a different nurse. It was like right on the line of like, we’ll just get through this nurse. And. And make sure that the next nurse is definitely more in line. And the next nurse was…
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:31:53:
She was amazing.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:31:54:
However…
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:31:55:
In the morning, I will, we’ll get there, but I was basically pushing at change of shift. The nurse from the night before, she like comes in, comes right in my face, tries to give me a hug. I’m like pushing. And then I was like whatever it’s fine you know we’re basically done here and then everyone else like my doctor the nurse we had the night before, like it’s handled already and she was gone, and she didn’t come back.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:32:19:
I spoke to the nurse during handoff and I said, please make sure we get a different right.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:32:24:
Right. We did right. And she had handpicked somebody for us.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:32:26:
Yeah.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:32:26:
And then I guess she just saw we were still there. I’m just coming right back.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:32:29:
Okay.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:32:30:
She’s like, oh, this is my patient. She just went right in and just like, I guess didn’t even go to like check with who her patient would be. She just assumed because she had us the night before that she would have us.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:32:40:
And like she was friendly. She sat in the room with us for two hours. We were just like talking about some of our like Jewish traditions and like, you know, she was asking us questions and it was I was hardly in labor at that point. So it was fine. You know, we can we can be friends. We can chat. I just didn’t want her there when.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:32:55:
And our start nurse was also.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:32:57:
Yeah, I hardly remember her because. Anyway, so fine. So the first nurse left, the next nurse came. She was amazing. She pretty much left us alone, but like she offered stuff. Like when I didn’t really want to walk, she brought me the peanut ball. I ended up hurting my hip, so I didn’t use it. But she was kind of just there whenever we needed something and was very like, I explained to her and I had right at the top of my birth plan, consent is very important to me. And I explained to her, I’m like, I really don’t care if you take my blood pressure without asking for me, without asking me. But I need to know if anything is. Anything important I need to be part of. And I trusted her enough to tell her that at that point with the first nurse, I would not have given her that like, you know, freedom. I had a migraine and after the oral meds didn’t really work. So they gave me the cocktail that includes Benadryl. So we, we, she pushed the Benadryl. I were, we took a little walk in the hall and by the time we get back to the room, my words were slurring. So I went to sleep at some point before that. I think I had asked for another cervical check. There hadn’t been much progress made. And then I think it was a 1am. My, I was maxed out on Pitocin. So she came in and she said, how would you feel about having your water broken or allowing us to break your waters? Now, on my birth plan, I had put that I don’t want my water broken. But to be honest, at that point, I didn’t care anymore. I was perfectly comfortable with doing something to move things along. And it was my choice. So they had a hospitalist midwife come in, and she broke my water. And I think at that point, I was at like a four and a half. So not a ton of progress had been made until that point. And then I think one other cervical check sometime a couple hours later. So I was on Benadryl. I think I had an epidural already. And he asks me, do you want to be checked? And I said, no, like I know I’m not ready to push. And then the nurse comes back in and she says, so your contractions are every are coming one minute apart. And I said, oh, okay, I understand. Sure. I had made the connection. Essentially, we came in for fetal distress. And if my contractions are one minute apart, there’s a reasonable concern for fetal distress. If I’m a nine, it’s a very different situation than if I’m still a five and they would be dealt with differently. So there’s an important reason to have that information. So she checked me and I don’t even remember what the answer was. Was it at that point?
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:35:39:
Oh, I don’t remember that. We were 10 centimeters.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:35:41:
I feel like I would have.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:35:42:
When it was high, I was like, let’s-
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:35:44:
No, but that wasn’t that. That was later. That was-
Steven Dubinsky – 00:35:47:
In the morning.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:35:48:
Sometime while I was still sleeping. So I don’t remember what I was at. But regardless, there was no fetal distress. So that was fine.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:35:55:
I know we went from like there was like very minimal progress.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:35:58:
So I woke up around 6, I think.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:36:00:
Yeah.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:36:00:
Or maybe 6:30. And I said, pretty sure I’m complete. Can someone check me, please? And it was like a two-second check. Yep, cervix is gone. So that was around 6:30, I think. But anyway, after they broke my water, pretty much immediately I asked for that. But they’re all I had it within 20 minutes, I’d say.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:36:18:
Hmm.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:36:19:
And that was great. It was different than my first. My first, I really couldn’t feel anything. This time it got rid of my contractions. But when it was time to push, I felt everything. I could move my legs. Turns out it really just wasn’t working much for me down there. My doctor thinks maybe I felt 50%. Maybe she’s right. Maybe I felt everything. I’ve never done it with no family, so I don’t know. But I definitely felt everything when I was pushing. And from that point, so I said I was complete. Called her. She came. She specialed me. She wasn’t on call. I didn’t know that until I asked the nurse how many other patients she has. And she said she is just coming in for me.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:37:01:
Oh.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:37:03:
I think it’s one of like the it’s it’s like almost like ironic that on this one, on this on your second birth, you you felt like, you know, infinitely more physical pain.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:37:15:
Yes.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:37:17:
And yet this one was, we would consider, you know, minimally or non-traumatic.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:37:21:
Yes. Non-traumatic.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:37:22:
And the first one you felt zero pain, but it was, horrifically traumatic and caused years of, of, you know, fallout.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:37:31:
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, definitely.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:37:33:
Which is obviously because it’s about your autonomy and, you know, you feeling you not being.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:37:38:
Severe pain can cause trauma, but it doesn’t always, you know, it depends on how well supported you are in some cases. Right?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:37:48:
Um, yeah. So, okay. So, um, I started pushing and I had like all, all these things in my first plan of like, in my mind, I was very flexible about it. Like I didn’t know what I would want to do in the moment, but I wanted the option, um, to push in different positions, you know, to whatever. Turned out I was perfectly comfortable reclined. I was not placed in stirrups, pushing my feet against them. Um, they left the bed whole until it was clear that I wasn’t using it and I wasn’t planning to use it. So then they broke it down. But like at no point did I feel like this is what I was supposed to do. It’s just what was working for me. Yeah. And I started off like, you know, trying like the breathing that I had learned and, and it, nothing was really happening. And like, turned out I just wanted the baby out. So then I switched to like the more like the Valsalva pushing and that worked for me. Had a mirror in the ceiling which I think was so cool it was you couldn’t see it unless you wanted to so they would angle it towards you so when I said I wanted the mirror they’re like oh it’s right there whenever you want it so they just like used the remote to angle it until I said I could see it and then they left it there that was really helpful. With my first, I was the only person in the whole room who could see what was going on. Like, I don’t know, I guess I was draped or whatever and I was had a belly, I suppose. But I really felt like it was something that happened to me. And one of my number one goals was not to feel that way again, to feel like I was present the whole time. And it was like it was something that I did. And that’s really what happened. Like I said, I’m kind of an information junkie, so I’ve learned a lot about trauma and how things how things like what what the tools are to not. Not experience those things, but also. Even when I know everything, I can’t always stop my body from feeling that way. So I’ve had disassociative experiences before where… I knew what was happening, but I couldn’t stop it. So he was prepared to step in if needed. But my doctor really just handled it all. And I didn’t have that specific conversation with her, but she just kept referring back to like, remember this conversation we had? That’s what’s happening now. And like, she kind of kept me informed about what was going on. At one point, she even said, do you see how the head is there? And it’s kind of just stretching. It was really painful at that point. I definitely felt that. I had him push the button for the epidural. It didn’t work. She injected some local anesthetic. I don’t think it helped at all, or maybe it would have been much worse. And she said, this point right here, this is where some of my old partners would get out of me. It’s not because they’re trying to hurt. They feel like if they just give you a cut, the baby’s out. But evidence does not show that to does not support that. So but like I’ve I don’t know if everybody would have appreciated that while they’re pushing, but that’s what I needed.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:40:50:
She was also saying like, for recovery and all that, like. The best way to push and when to hold and when not to push.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:40:57:
Yeah.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:40:58:
It was just a very.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:40:59:
Right, she helped me. She did. And we had talked about this before. She said, you can do whatever you want. There are things that I feel like I can do to help. Like she said, if you want to push on your hands and knees, you can push on your hands and knees. You want to push however you can. There’s not much I can do to protect your perineum in some of those positions. If that’s what you want to do, that’s fine. If you want to, you know, so I kind of went along with her. And I didn’t have the urge to get on my hand anymore. So I didn’t. She really, she supported the perineum. I think she did some perineal massage, but then when I didn’t want her to do that, she didn’t. And whatever she did or whatever, however she coached me, she’s like, I’m going to ask you. And she told me this beforehand. That’s huge. I’m going to ask you to slow it down when her head is there. We want that stretching to happen. She did all of those things and I had a first degree tear and one stitch. So whatever she did worked. I listened to your whole series when I was pregnant on protecting the perineum. And my main takeaway, you can correct me if I’m wrong, but my main takeaway was doctors who are scissor happy need something to do with their hands. Doctors or midwives who have actual skills, there are things that they can do, but there’s not solid data. Each of those things because it really just comes down to skill level and training. I don’t know if that’s what all the data said, but that was my takeaway.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:42:27:
Some providers have much higher severe tear rates than others.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:42:30:
Right. So I didn’t ask her for her rates, but she was very comfortable in this area. And what I really believe that if she had been my doctor with my first, not only would I not have had an episiotomy, but I don’t know that I would have had the nerve damage.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:42:50
Probably not.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:42:53
Oh, and this baby came out sunny-side up. Which is the biggest joke of all, because it was such a non-issue that I didn’t even know until she was out. And they’re like, oh, there’s her face. Whereas with my first doctor, that would have been a C-section.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:43:04:
Mm-hmm.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:43:05:
So I was pushing for… Probably 40-ish minutes, so longer, but she was sunny-side up, still not very long. And I just find that so funny that… You know, it was so unimportant. Yeah.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:43:21:
Well, then also.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:43:22:
My first flip, she wasn’t sunny-side side up. My second was.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:43:27:
Once she came out, she was on you, I think it was less than a second. It was like, Baby was out and it was it was probably two seconds until she was on your chest.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:43:37:
Yeah.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:43:37:
But it’ll come in until everything.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:43:39:
Yeah. So she her head comes out. I think my doctor immediately like turns her and she’s out the rest of the way. And she said, okay, grab her. And that was it. So I did. And she’s like, it just goes slow because she’s still attached to the cord. But I picked her up and I like brought her up to me. There wasn’t even any like they placed the baby on me. Like I didn’t pull her out of me, but I picked her up immediately. And then she was just there. And then I think I remember she…
Steven Dubinsky – 00:44:06:
Left. She’s still there.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:44:07:
Pretty much. Pretty much. Then I remember the nursery nurses, like I think they were doing some stimming and I guess they came to my shoulder and looked like doing Apgars and stuff. That was it. Nobody touched her for an hour and a half. And then at a certain point, they took her, they weighed her, they did all the stuff while I, like, got up and went to the bathroom and did the checklist I needed to do to get out of recovery. But I remember even earlier on, I said, like, I’m kind of curious about her weight. And they’re like, just leave her. You know, we don’t need that right now. Like, let her get that time. So that was really their focus. And I think that’s something that I was so nervous about because I chose my doctor. I chose the hospital. But you only have so much in choosing your nurse. And that’s somebody you can interview. Yeah, you can fire somebody, as we sort of did. Yes, I was very nervous about that, but it’s clear that that hospital is set up in a way that if I have another baby there and I don’t have as good an experience. I think we’ll just know how to switch. Like, we know that you can get that. So if the nurse that we have isn’t supportive of that, so we get a different nurse because clearly that’s possible there. So I really felt like, to borrow from the class, I really felt like we had the golden ticket experience. I did a ton of prep, but had I done less prep, I still would have had a good experience.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:45:38:
Yeah, it did sound to me, especially in describing your OB, that you had the golden ticket. So that’s incredible. And I want to know, what were your feelings after the baby came out and you were, you know, recovering from that? Like, what thoughts were going through your head?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:45:53:
I mean, honestly, I felt like a badass. Like, I did that. I felt so powerful that like that was something that I did. The whole time I felt like I was the center of the room versus like an afterthought who happened to be delivering a baby. Yeah, I mean, and she was with me the whole time. I just remember, I remember saying, like, that’s a real baby. Like, that’s a whole different baby. She looked exactly like my first. Exactly. Which was crazy. I knew I was holding a baby. I had that baby already. So that took some processing. But they’re very different people now, even with the baby only being seven months old. They’re completely different. Yeah, and I just really felt so powerful and like so almost like high on birth, which isn’t something I felt before. During my pregnancy, I listened to a lot of your like issue podcasts, like talking about the evidence on, you know, anything I was interested in. I would listen to that episode. But I think I’ve listened to every single birth story since.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:46:58:
Wow.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:46:59:
It’s still something I still like to listen to birth stories. And to the point where if, you know. We have another baby, like now I would maybe take a hypnobirthing class or something like that. I’m still not one to say I don’t want an epidural. I need it to be natural. I don’t really feel that way, but I would like other options available to me if that’s what I want at the time. I can understand the appeal. For other people, you know, people go in just wanting natural birth and wanting no interventions and, you know, all that. I, now I can understand the appeal. I really didn’t feel that way before.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:47:34:
Steven, what about you? What were your feelings afterwards?
Steven Dubinsky – 00:47:37:
It really was like we said, it was like a high. I mean, it was like a really it was just very like meaningful. We we we really felt like we went through at least I don’t know, felt like we went through it together. And like, you know, I also, you know, differently than the first time felt like a part of the process. I was helping her. I mean, you know, obviously I was not a very major part and I didn’t do a lot of work, but I definitely felt, you know, involved and and a part of it. And, you know, I was definitely a little bit more. Closer to the action zone than I was on the first time. And I mean, it really was a high. And it was like. We were high for like, you know, hours after I’m just as like. You know, euphoria after she came out. And then we had, then we didn’t sleep for a couple of weeks. That quickly dissipated, but. Oh. But it was a very, it was a very, just like with the doc, you know, like just that it was like the three of us in it, you know. It was like a really, it was an incredible experience.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:48:43:
Oh, and my nurse stayed, the one from the night. It was change of shift. She freaking… Moms take her kids to school so she could stay through my delivery and then she left right away and the other nurse like recovered with me but-
Steven Dubinsky – 00:48:55:
Well she stayed, made sure the next nurse didn’t come in, and-
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:48:58:
Right. Right. Um, and she stayed until, our baby was born. Um.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:49:04:
It sounds like, my- I imagine it wasn’t just like a magical experience, for you, and-
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:49:09:
I mean, it really was.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:49:10:
Ask if you’re the everyone in the room, you know.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:49:12:
Yeah, I hear, yeah, I hear that probably.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:49:14:
For me, it’s a hard hard profession, obstetrics, nursing and have a birth like that. That you can tell is healing, and has so much positive energy that has to keep them.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:49:24:
We felt very special, I mean the doctor came in on her off night. You know, I mean how many doctors are gonna do, I mean these, these, these doctors work hard enough, and she-
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:49:30:
And there’s only two of them, so they’re on call a lot.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:49:33:
Yeah.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:49:34:
And she came in the next day, when she came in to round on us. Um, she said, she remembered like, how I looked the first time I saw her, probably two years before I was pregnant. And she’s like, I just knew, I could make it different for you. And she like, held on to that. And then she really did, um, and I really spent, most of my pregnancy being scared of birth, and now, like I don’t feel that way at all.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:49:56:
One last question before we have to go, um, do you have any advice for parents who might be seeking trauma-informed care? Like you were?
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:50:06:
Yes. Don’t be scared to interview doctors, like, I don’t know if you need to be as, obsessive as me, but it was really helpful that I did it when I was not pregnant. I did it with birth in mind. So I asked them the questions of this. This is what I think my needs are. And I kind of listened to how they answered. And I got the yeses from everybody, but they came differently.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:50:30:
And probably were looking at body language and other cues as well.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:50:33:
There was one doctor who I actually liked him, but when I asked him about like some of the things I asked him about, he kind of laid the foundation. In a way that like, like I asked about arm restraints, uh, for C-section. And he said something like, Oh, I mean like the arm boards have to be there. Your hands have to have somewhere to go, but you know, like he kind of just said it that way. And, and they took me a while to connect that the way he answered the questions meant I wasn’t going to get the things that I felt I needed. Um, and I did not use him. So yes, so all of that really helped. Knowing in advance, because once you’re pregnant and you go to the doctor, it’s a big deal to switch to somebody else, even though it can be done. But what if you don’t like the somebody else? So yeah, so that I think is my biggest thing was finding a place I felt safe before I got pregnant, if you have that luxury. And my birth plan, I was pretty detailed. But next time I would really shorten it to consent. In bold letters. I mean, or just, you know, explain I have a history of trauma. Consent is really important to me.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:51:46:
You wouldn’t write a, you know, a two-page letter, single space with…
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:51:50:
Okay, it was bullet points. It was bullet points. But yes, I did have a very detailed birth plan and I would take most of it off next time. And the number one thing that they need to know is before you do anything, touch me, touch my meds, do anything, you need to talk to me. And there needs to be a conversation. And then the way my doctors put it, I think, is advice that will help everybody. She said, you will know if I feel really strongly about something. Other than that, there’s almost always time. To have a conversation. And to that, to that, um, point I had uterine, uh, apnea, is it called? And it was such a non-issue. Like she had a second to tell me what was going on and what she wanted to do about it. And I am never going to be the person to say, don’t stop me from bleeding out. I was comfortable with everything she wanted to do. But I felt no stress about it. I was not worried. There was no anxiety in the room. She told me what was going on, how she wanted to address it, and then she did. So I knew that something needed to be done and then she did it. And there was no problem and no trauma from that.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:52:59:
Makes sense. Well, Rivka, Steven, thank you so much for sharing your story. It was really inspirational for me to hear and, you know, congrats on your newest child. And I’m just so happy that you were able to get a healing experience that left you both feeling more empowered as parents.
Rivka Dubinsky – 00:53:16:
Thank you so much for having me.
Steven Dubinsky – 00:53:17:
Thank you for, you know, all the work that you do. And I think you were, without knowing it, a part of our journey. And thank you for the good work. You know, keep it up because you’re changing lives.
Dr. Rebecca Dekker – 00:53:31:
Thank you. Today’s podcast was brought to you by the Signature Articles at Evidence Based Birth®. Did you know that we have more than 20 peer-reviewed articles summarizing the evidence on childbirth topics available for free at evidencebasedbirth.com? It takes six to nine months on average for our research team to write an article from start to finish. And we then make those articles freely available to the public on our blog. Check out our topics ranging from advanced maternal age to circumcision, due dates, big babies, Pitocin, vitamin K, and more. Our mission is to get research evidence on childbirth into the hands of families and communities around the world. Just go to evidencebasedbirth.com, click on blog. And click on the filter to look at just the EBB Signature Articles.
