[POWER REPLAY] Physiologic Birth: Benefits, Challenges & Why It Matters
Birth With Power
Dr. Nicole C. Rankins
4.8 • 650 Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode is a power replay and one you don’t want to miss!
We’re revisiting one of the most insightful and important topics I've covered: physiologic birth. I was inspired to do this episode by Certified Nurse Midwife Gianna Fay, who raised a critical question - how do we define and support physiologic birth, especially in a hospital setting?
As an OB/GYN, I wasn’t taught much about this, and I had to dig in and learn myself. In this episode, I break down what physiologic birth really means, what disrupts it, why it’s beneficial, and how YOU can be supported in having one.
You’ll learn:
- How normal physiologic birth is defined
- Which factors can disrupt the process (and how many of them are routine in hospitals)
- What benefits physiologic birth can offer to both you and your baby
- Why hospital protocols often contradict best practices
- The truth about pushing techniques, fetal monitoring, labor positions, and more
- How you can advocate for yourself and demand change in a system slow to evolve
Whether you're planning a physiologic birth or not, this episode will leave you informed, empowered, and ready to make the best decisions for your birth experience.
👉🏽 Be sure to sign up for my email list for more helpful resources at drnicolerankins.com/email.
You deserve a beautiful pregnancy and birth!
Free Resources to Help You Birth With Power
Get the support, clarity, and confidence you deserve. Download any of my free tools designed to help you prepare for a calmer, confident, and more empowered hospital birth:
• Hospital Tour Scorecard — Know exactly what to look for so you can choose the right hospital
• How to Tell If Your OB Is Right for You — Ask the right questions and spot red flags early
• Labor Pain Management Playbook — Learn the tools and strategies I teach my own patients
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey there, just a quick update. I spent the summer resting and realigning, and it was incredibly |
| 0:07.1 | restorative for my mind, body, and spirit. And now I am so excited to come back. Starting October |
| 0:14.8 | 2nd, I'll be back with brand new episodes, fresh insights, and new resources to help you feel calm, confident, |
| 0:23.2 | and empowered for your birth. Until then, enjoy this episode. Your birth matters, and I'm |
| 0:30.3 | honored to be a part of how you prepare for it. In this episode, you are going to learn |
| 0:36.5 | all about physiologic birth. |
| 0:45.5 | Welcome to the All About Pregnancy and Birth podcast. I'm Dr. Nicole Calloway Rankins, a board certified |
| 0:53.0 | OBGYN who's been in practice for nearly 15 years. |
| 0:56.8 | I've had the privilege of helping over 1,000 babies into this world, and I'm here to help you |
| 1:02.6 | be calm, confident, and empowered to have a beautiful pregnancy in birth. Quick note, this podcast |
| 1:09.6 | is for educational purposes only and is not |
| 1:12.5 | a substitute for medical advice. Check out the full disclaimer at Dr. Nicole Rankins.com |
| 1:18.0 | forward slash disclaimer. Now let's get to it. |
| 1:25.1 | Hello, hello, welcome to another episode of the podcast. This is episode number 190. I am so glad that you're spending some of your time with me today. I'm so excited for this episode. I'm kicking off the new year, 2023, with a really important topic, and that is physiologic birth. |
| 1:46.3 | I was inspired to do this episode by Gianna Faye. |
| 1:49.7 | She is a certified nurse midwife. |
| 1:52.1 | She was a guest on the podcast on episode 168 where we chatted about all things midwifery, |
| 1:57.4 | and she sent me a message asking me if physiologic birth is a topic that I'd be |
| 2:02.9 | willing to cover because it gets talked about a lot. And my response was sure, but how do I talk about this? |
| 2:12.5 | It's not a topic that OBGYNs are taught much, if anything about. And quite honestly, we often scratch |
| 2:19.6 | our heads at the term. Like, what does that even mean? But as I said, the term gets used a lot |
| 2:26.1 | in the online space, but it's not often defined. So I said, okay, let me roll up my sleeves, see what information I can find on |
... |
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