About

Helping women have better births and better birth experiences. Our experts share their perspectives on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. These are raw, honest stories about the experience of labor from the professional's point of view. Listen and get inside your OB/GYN or midwife's head.

Our goal is to share the truth about pregnancy and birth with the listener and to explain our thought process. We see our role as one in which we guide and inform, presenting facts so that the laboring mother can make the best decisions for her. If there are concerns during pregnancy or issues that need to be addressed before the birth, we present them, opening a dialogue and encouraging conversation; we give the options, but we can not and will not decide for the patient. We leave it up to her and her family. We are here to be as straightforward and transparent as possible and help a birthing woman have the optimal pregnancy, labor and birth experience.

We serve the truth straight up in common English and steer clear of medical jargon. Our goal is to make medicine, obstetrics, and all relevant information as easily digestible as possible for the listener to enjoy, share and learn from.

Each episode covers birth and prenatal topics through the eyes of Dr. Yaakov Abdelhak, a NYC metro area Perinatologist and Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor, and his trusty side kick, Certified Nurse Midwife Kristin Mallon.

Our goal is to share the truth about pregnancy and birth with the listener and to tell what we are thinking. We explain what we are thinking. We are not trying to make decisions for anyone, rather we give the facts. We want the listener make their own decisions about birth. If there is a problem surrounding pregnancy of birth, we present it, we give the options. but we are not deciding for the audience. We leave it up to them. We are here to be as straightforward and transparent as possible.

We serve the truth straight up in common English. We are not using large medical jargon. Our goal is to make medicine, obstetrics, and the information here as easily digestible as possible for the listener to enjoy, share and learn.

True Birth is all about raw honest truths when it comes to labor, delivery, pregnancy and the postpartum period helping women have better births and better birth experiences.

The whole essence of this podcast is we are telling you the way pregnancy and birth really is. We are not sugar coating it and we are not just reading from the book. We are two practicers in the trenches on the labor floor everyday telling you the truth about birth.

We are going to give you the truths as we see them that are not diluted or even mitigated by what the convention of today is. We are giving the truth as the way forward and the way to start thinking about birth. We'll share stories from the labor room from the professional's perspective. All about pregnancy and birth through the eyes of Dr. Yaakov Abdelhak, a NYC metro area Perinatologist, Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor and his trusty side kick Certified Nurse Midwife Kristin Mallon.

About the Hosts

Yaakov Abdelhak, MD, FACOG

High-Risk Perinatologist and MFM Specialist

Dr. Yaakov Abdelhak is a board-certified OB/GYN who also completed an additional fellowship in perinatology (high-risk obstetrics) and has been a Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) doctor since 2002. He is a firm supporter in natural and vaginal birth whenever safe for the mother and baby.

Yaakov Abdelhak, MD, FACOG attended SUNY Downstate Medical School and OB/GYN residency at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. He completed a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at New York University. Dr. Abdelhak started his private practice in 2002 and delivers out of Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ.

He supports vaginal breech, vaginal twins, vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) and vaginal birth after two cesareans (VBAC2). His expertise in high-risk obstetrics ranges from the management of diabetes, high blood pressure, severe hyperemesis, amniocentesis, CVS, cerclage placement, external cephalic versions, multiple gestational, pregnancy after 40, previous loss, recurrent miscarriages, and complications in pregnancy.

Kristin Mallon, CNM, MS, RNC-OB

Certified Nurse Midwife

Kristin Mallon, CNM, MS, RNC-OB is a board certified nurse midwife, breast health expert, published author and a mother of four. She grew up in Newport Beach, California and fell in love with and then married an adventurous, fun native New Yorker. Now settled in North Jersey, her expertise lies in pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum year.

Kristin graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Psychology and completed her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. In Marilyand, she began working as a D.O.N.A. trained doula and the life-long love of working with women began.

While completing her Master’s degree in Science & Midwifery, at New York University (NYU), she was Editor in Chief of the Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect. Never leaving her love of psychology, physics and the brain behind, she worked at the Hatch Center for MRI Research at Columbia University in New York. Her work focused on biosignals, biophysics and how molecules, tissues and signals form images and quantitative data. Upon matriculation, she began practicing as a board certified nurse midwife in private practice Brooklyn, NY.

Kristin taught Bachelor’s and Master’s level nursing courses at NYU and Monmouth University and wrote for various medical textbooks and nursing test prep courses.

In 2017, Kristin teamed up with Inna Toplier Mooney, CNS to co-found Vibrant Beginning a pregnaceutical company. The vision of Vibrant Beginning is to create holistic supplements that are also effective, whereas most products in… Read More