S2 EP34: Rhea Dempsey - Hospital birth + two homebirths - Author of "Birth with Confidence"

Today’s show features childbirth educator, birth attendant, counsellor and author, Rhea Dempsey. Rhea’s well-known book “Birth with Confidence” has helped awaken and guide so many of us along our own journeys, and her latest release “Beyond the Birth Plan” is of equal magnitude. Rhea shares her three birth stories, focusing a lot on her first birth and unpacking how that whole sequence of events impacted her. Although extremely confusing and confronting at that time, she attributes a lot of her ‘why’ to that experience and the work that unfolded throughout her many years as a birth activist. We chat about life before the epidural and how this initially welcomed drug has fuelled the misconception around pain during childbirth, and she shares advice for the “willing woman” wanting a normal physiological birth, on how to navigate the current birth culture within the hospital system. It gives me the greatest pleasure to share this wonderful, wise woman with my listeners today. Both of Rhea's books are available for purchase on the Positive Birth Australia website: www.positivebirthaustralia.com Instagram: @rheadempseybirth Website: www.birthingwisdom.com.au