About Vanessa Merten & Pregnancy Podcast

Hello! I’m Vanessa, and I’m here to support expecting moms (and partners, too!) with evidence-based information to navigate the awesome adventure of pregnancy, birth, and being a new parent.

After finding out I was pregnant in December 2013, I kind of freaked out.  Don’t get me wrong – I was really excited!! – but also freaked out. After doing some initial research on what this whole pregnancy and parenting thing was all about, I realized I was in over my head. I would spend HOURS combing through websites, blog posts, books – anything and everything – looking for information I could trust, and that would help me make informed decisions about my pregnancy.  Sound familiar?

After nine months of frantic searching, Reef was born, and looking back on it all, I realized just how much time I spent consuming all that info. It was really tough to find legitimate, evidence-based sources, gather information, and analyze everything all by myself. It was like I would read one thing one day, then another thing another day… how was I supposed to know which was the right thing for me? That’s why I created the Pregnancy Podcast – it’s the tool I wish I had when I was expecting. Going through all of the education and research I did in an effort to help me make evidence-based informed, confident decisions about my pregnancy, giving birth, and being a parent inspired me to create a SINGLE resource for other expecting parents who feel overwhelmed, scared, misinformed, frustrated or anxious about “what’s next.”

Since the launch of this podcast, I have been through a second pregnancy, and on New Year’s Eve of 2017, I welcomed my baby girl, Isla, to the world. As I sit here today, I am truly proud of the hard work I put into making informed and evidence-based decisions. I have two beautiful children and a happy, healthy family, and I know my informed decisions play a key part in that.

With The Pregnancy Podcast, I provide info that goes way beyond the typical “pregnancy instruction manual” by sharing research-backed, evidence-based information. Once in a while, I bring on an expert to talk about a particular topic. I craft every episode to give you all of the evidence, research, pros, cons, risks, and benefits – all so you decide what the best option is for YOU and feel confident about your decisions during your pregnancy and beyond.

The Pregnancy Podcast is a resource to help you make informed decisions about your pregnancy and your baby and a place where you can rest assured that you’ll find real solutions that are in line with your family and your lifestyle. Ready to get started? To make it easier I recommend starting here.

This is the pregnancy and birth that set me out on the journey to create and build the Pregnancy Podcast. You can check out the birth story of my son, Reef, on The Birth Hour podcast.

My baby girl, Isla, was born on New Year’s Eve, 2017. Thankfully, I had the Pregnancy Podcast and thousands of hours of research to guide me through this pregnancy and birth. You can listen to Isla’s birth story here.