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Do you have a vision for the kind of birth you desire, but aren’t sure if it will be possible? Is the fear of pain during labour causing you to doubt yourself? And do you worry that you won’t get the support you need to birth the way you want?

Enter today’s podcast guest, the incredible Rhea Dempsey, one of the foremost thinkers on the subject of childbirth. Rhea is joining me today to share strategies, insights and wisdom about how to birth with confidence, how to stack the odds in your favour of having a physiological birth, and how to unlock your belief in yourself and your body.

Rhea Dempsey is a highly sought after childbirth educator, counsellor, speaker, author and birth attendant with experience at over one thousand births. She is internationally renowned as an insightful thinker and presenter on the topic of working with pain — both physical and psychological — in childbirth, and the implications of this for normal physiological birth and postnatal wellbeing.

Rhea’s first book Birth with Confidence: Savvy choices for normal birth, a bestseller published in 2013, has become a word-of-mouth classic. With three adult daughters and five grandchildren (so far!) of her own, Rhea’s understanding of birth has been gained from her own birth experiences and during forty years working with pregnant women, their partners, support people, midwives and medical practitioners.

This conversation felt so sacred and important. Rhea is the wise woman the world needs right now, and the way she discusses birth will make you feel incredibly empowered and inspired. Whether you’re currently pregnant (or thinking about it), have already given birth, or you simply want to know how best to support the women in your life, this episode is a must listen.

So if you want to discover how to avoid unnecessary interventions during labour, how to empower your partner and birth team to support you during childbirth, and learn the practical and emotional steps you can take to raise your pain tolerance level, then pop in those earbuds… this one’s for you.

In this episode we chat about:

• Rhea’s terrible experience having her first baby in the ’70s, and how it inspired her to become a birthing advocate (06:01)
• The 5 CRUCIAL topics that every pregnant women needs to get informed about prior to giving birth (12:22)
• Why birthing women are not “poor little things” and how epidurals are the Trojan horses of childbirth (17:40)
• How to successfully work *with* labour pain (not against it), and get over the ‘confidence crisis’ like a champion (23:00)
• Should your partner participate in your birth? Here’s what science says about having your partner in the room (30:16)
• How to empower partners to successfully support a birthing woman (38:11)
• Life-saving breathing strategies to practice during the last trimester (46:08)
• How to connect with the beautiful, primal woman within you (49:40)
• Healing women’s relationship with physiological childbirth in today’s culture (01:06:55)

Episode resources: 

• Birthing Wisdom by Rhea Dempsey (website)
• Birth With Confidence by Rhea Dempsey (amazon)
• Beyond the Birth Plan by Rhea Dempsey (book)
• How To Have An Ecstatic Childbirth with Dr Sarah Buckley (podcast)
• Birthing From Within And Without Fear with Pam England (podcast)
• Active Birth by Janet Balaskas (amazon)

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be SO grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple podcasts, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

P.S. Please seek advice from a qualified holistic practitioner before starting any new health practice.

This episode is brought to you by @blubloxofficial. Head to www.BLUblox.com now and enter the code MELISSA for 15% off your order.