Evidence Based Birth – Rebecca Dekker
As soon as I came across this website, I knew I had to get it to you ladies!
Let me start by saying this is not the typical mom blog that I share on here. I’m not sure it meets the technical definition of “mom blog” in the internet dictionary… if there is such a thing. But it certainly meets my criteria for Ma’s List sites. It’s high quality. And it hits on a topic I’ve wanted to get on Ma’s List for a while now. Read more about that in my little birth chat article, coming soon.
When you first see the website title, you might think it’s for healthcare workers, for scientists, or maybe even for those moms who do home births? Well, in my opinion, this website is for every woman who is having children or will have children. And it’s for every woman who knows someone in that category. And it’s definitely for everyone who works with the birth process in a professional capacity. Did I get all of you??
I’m sure this website could appeal more to certain types of personalities – the analytical type, the researcher type. But give it a try even if you think you’re not that type.
Rebecca Dekker is the site founder. She’s a nurse with a PhD, who was originally inspired to start this project after having a less-than-ideal birth experience in the hospital with her first child. She wondered if the care she received was evidence-based… and thus Evidence Based Birth was born. She is the primary driver of content, although she now works with a team to make everything happen.
And there’s a lot happening, let’s talk about the resources.
For you as a mom, the central valuable resource on this website is the blog. Here you have free access to a LOT of fantastic info. Her articles are extremely focused on the topic at hand: the birth / delivery of babies. They’re very unbiased. They cover all the known relevant studies, provide summaries of this info, and discuss what this might tell us about birth. Each article focuses on a very specific topic, and many of them are arranged in series. For example, there’s a series on pain management. I can only imagine the amount of time and effort that goes into creating each of these gold mines of information.
One of my favorite aspects of the blog is that the content is “consumable” (can I use that word?) in a variety of ways – as readable, audio, or video. Honestly, how can you beat that? Pick your favorite and go to town.
Evidence Based Birth also offers other resources. They have some products: for example, PDF printouts of their articles, t-shirts with fun mottos. This money goes toward supporting Evidence Based Birth website and work, which is non-profit and stays unaffiliated from other organizations in order to be unbiased.
Another resource for parents (in specific areas, for now) is a childbirth class.
There are also resources for birth professionals. Evidence Based Birth offers training, professional membership, and certification. And they have a first Evidence Based Birth conference coming up in 2019!
One Thing Ma Loves: I love the fact that the founder and primary author of this website is a nurse. Not a doctor, not a doula, not a midwife. Now I don’t say that as a hit against any of those truly admirable professionals or their work. But I like that it’s coming from a nurse because these are the people who do all the work on the front lines of hospital births – the majority of births today. These are the people who see so much. And now one of them’s stepping up to lay out a scientific analysis of different birth methods.
I hope you enjoy this website!
