Tanya called in on a Monday morning. “I’m getting married in a few months and we want to start trying to get pregnant right away. What should I be doing now to have the best chance of a healthy baby?” Preconception health and pregnancy planning present a terrific opportunity to assess a wide range of factors that can give your baby the best start. This blog will outline the things to consider, as I relayed to Tanya: Your Personal Health Are you generally healthy? If you already get …
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Podcast: Ep. 94 – How Birth Defect Surveillance Protects Moms & Babies: From Zika to Opioid Exposure
How do public health experts detect emerging risks to pregnancies before they become widespread crises? In this episode of The MotherToBaby Podcast, host Chris Stallman, genetic counselor, mom of four, and teratogen information specialist, sits down with Dr. Amanda Elmore, Assistant Professor of Maternal & Child Health at the University of South Florida, to explore the powerful role of birth defect surveillance. Dr. Elmore shares how her career in public health began during the Zika virus …
Podcast: Ep. 86: Folic Acid Facts & Fiction: What Every Parent Should Know – with Dr. Elisabeth Marnik (@ScienceWhizLiz)
In this special Folic Acid Awareness Week episode of The MotherToBaby Podcast, host and genetic counselor Chris Stallman sits down with Dr. Elisabeth Marnik, PhD—a biomedical scientist, mom, and science communicator better known as @ScienceWhizLiz on Instagram. Together, they unpack the science behind folic acid, its critical role in early pregnancy, and why it's one of the most important (yet misunderstood) nutrients for people of childbearing age. From real talk on neural tube defect …
Baby Blog: Empowering Moms this Mother’s Day and Every Day: Making the Most of Prenatal Appointments
By Lauren Kozlowski, MSW, MPH, MotherToBaby Georgia “I didn’t even know I should ask my OB about that!” It’s a reaction I hear almost daily as a teratogen information specialist (a fancy way of saying I’ve been trained in evaluating and communicating risks of exposures, like medications, during pregnancy). This particular caller’s reaction was like so many women going into their first appointment after finding out they were pregnant – she really didn’t know how to be her own best advocate. I …
Podcast: Ep. 85: Radiation & Breastfeeding: Understanding the Risks and Realities
In this episode of the MotherToBaby Podcast, host and genetic counselor Chris Stallman welcomes Dr. Emily Caffrey, a certified health physicist at the Health Physics Society and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Together, they dive into one of the most frequently asked topics: how radiation exposure may impact breastfeeding. Dr. Caffrey explains the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, details how imaging procedures like X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs interact with …

