EBB 381 - Ask Me Anything with Dr. Rebecca Dekker

Evidence Based Birth®

Rebecca Dekker

Kids & Family, Medicine, Parenting, Health & Fitness

4.3 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As 2025 comes to an end, guest host Dr. Sara Ailshire turns the tables and interviews Dr. Rebecca Dekker about the biggest childbirth trends, lessons, and breakthroughs of 2025, and what exciting changes are coming to EBB in 2026.

Together, Sara and Rebecca dive into the shifting landscape of birth: the unprecedented rise in labor inductions, how AI is complicating the search for evidence-based information, changes in doula access and Medicaid coverage, and how politics continues to shape pregnancy and postpartum care. They walk through the most impactful EBB research updates of the year—including new evidence on vitamin K, gestational diabetes testing, induction timing, big babies, and respectful maternity care—and reflect on the episodes that resonated most with our global community.

Rebecca also opens up about what she personally learned this year, including how unresolved childhood trauma impacted her own labor years ago, and how that insight is shaping her thinking about the emotional and spiritual dimensions of birth. Plus, Rebecca reveals a major new direction for Evidence Based Birth

in 2026 that could transform hospital birth culture around the world and bring evidence-based care to thousands more families.

Want to provide input on EBB's new direction? Fill out this survey here!

(02:12) The #1 trend of 2025: inductions everywhere

(03:50) How AI is reshaping (and complicating) birth information

(07:51) Doula coverage, Medicaid changes, and fewer parents seeking childbirth education

(11:55) Miscarriage care, politics, and the impact of Dobbs

(13:42) Biggest EBB research updates: vitamin K, GDM, and more

(21:40) The new Respectful Maternity Care handout

(22:21) The new "big baby" trial and why it likely won't shift U.S. practice

(25:37) The top five EBB podcast episodes of the year

(32:58) Highlights from the 2025 EBB Conference & Summer School

(41:22) How trauma shaped Rebecca's own labor

(53:50) The big reveal: what's coming for EBB in 2026

Resources

Vitamin K Signature Article (Updated 2025): ebbirth.com/vitamink

Gestational Diabetes Signature Article (Updated): ebbirth.com/gdm

Get the Respectful Maternity Care Free Handout: ebbirth.com/RMC

Get the My Doula Visit Workbook: ebbirth.com/doula-workbook/

Referenced EBB Episodes

EBB 349 – An L & D Nurse's Advice for Advocating in the Birth Room with Trish Ware the Labor Nurse Mama

EBB 357 – Making Decisions about Elective Induction of Labor with Dr. Ann Peralta & Kari Radoff, CNM, from Partner to Decide

EBB 377 – Medicaid Coverage for Doula Care with Amy Chen, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program

EBB 352 – Calming Breathing Techniques for Pregnancy with Dr. Shilpa Babbar, Obstetrician and Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist

EBB 343 – Top Ten Evidence-Based Strategies for Lowering the Risk of Cesarean

EBB 347 - Updated Evidence on Vitamin K

EBB 350 – Surviving a Long Antepartum Hospital Stay and Preparing for a Scheduled Cesarean with Krista DeYoung, EBB Childbirth Class Graduate

EBB 372 – Comfort Measures and a 41-Week Induction with Hopey Fink and Ben Levin, EBB Childbirth Class Graduates

EBB Doula Trainer Rewards

Lorie Michaels, BirthPro Advanced Doula Training: birthpro.org

Lorenda Lewis, Healing with Dignity: healingwithdignity.com

Heather McCullough, HMBirth: hmbirth.com

Heather Christine Struwe, Community Aware Birthworker: communityawarebirthworker.com

Charlotte Shilo-Goudeau, Community Birth Companion: communitybirthcompanion.org

Naima Beckles, For Your Birth: foryourbirth.com

Leiko Hidaka, Leiko Hidaka: leikohidaka.com

Ruth Kraft, Birth Professional International: birthprofessionalinternational.com

Jennifer Anderson, Birth Fusion: birthfusion.com

Chanté Perryman, Baby Dreams Maternity Concierge: babydreamsmc.com

For more information about Evidence Based Birth® and a crash course on evidence based care, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on Instagram and YouTube! Ready to learn more? Grab an EBB Podcast Listening Guide or read Dr. Dekker's book, "Babies Are Not Pizzas: They're Born, Not Delivered!" If you want to get involved at EBB, join our Professional membership (scholarship options available) and get on the wait list for our EBB Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the EBB Childbirth Class.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody. On today's podcast, we're going to look back at 2025 with Dr. Decker and ask her,
0:06.4	what is next for evidence-based birth in 2026. Welcome to the evidence-based birth podcast. My name is
0:16.1	Rebecca Decker, and I'm a nurse with my PhD and the founder of evidence-based birth. Join me each week as we work
0:23.0	together to get evidence-based information into the hands of families and professionals around the
0:28.4	world. As a reminder, this information is not medical advice. See eBbirth.com slash disclaimer for more
0:36.1	details.
0:43.6	Hi, everyone. My name is Dr. Sarah Aleshire, and I'm going to be taking over as your guest host for today's episode. For those of you who haven't met me yet, I'm a long-standing member
0:48.5	of the research team here at EBB. On today's episode of the Evidence-based Birth Podcasts, we're going to be doing something
0:55.3	a little bit different for our annual EBB Year and Review episode. We're doing a little bit of a
1:00.9	switcheroo. I'm going to be doing an AMA and Ask Me Anything with Dr. Rebecca Decker, all about her
1:07.3	2025 as a CEO, podcast host, and director of research here at evidence-based
1:12.5	birth. We're also going to talk a little bit about what's happening in the world of birth,
1:16.5	and I'm going to pick Rebecca's brain about some of the big changes you might be seeing here
1:21.1	next year at EBB. So this is a fun chance to get behind the scenes look at what's happening
1:26.3	at EBB and to get Dr. Decker's
1:28.2	unfiltered thoughts about the future of EBB.
1:30.9	And with that, let's get started.
1:33.8	Our guest needs no introduction.
1:36.6	She's a hostess podcast and the CEO of Evidence-based Birth.
1:40.6	Dr. Decker, we are so happy to have you here this time as a guest.
1:45.2	Thank you so much for having me, Sara.
1:47.3	It feels a little exciting and nerve-wracking to be on the other side of the microphone
	...

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