Pregnancy can be a confusing time, especially if you hold hope for a physiological birth. Will it be possible? Will it be too painful? What about all the scary birth stories you hear? Is it just about luck? How can you prepare yourself?
As a qualified childbirth educator and counsellor I have worked with thousands of parents-to-be who have gone on to have the physiological births they wanted, as well as with midwives and other healthcare professionals sharing how they can best support this kind of birth.
So if physiological birth is something you are hopeful for, find out what will make a difference.
‘We wish we’d known about Rhea, her books, and this workshop prior to our first pregnancy. We absolutely loved it, and found it far more beneficial than all other birth preparation we did in our first pregnancy’ – Lauren, workshop participant
Drawing on over forty years’ experience, this word of mouth bestseller shows how your choice of caregivers, support team and birthplace, as well as your life experience and personal attitudes to pain, can affect your birth.
‘A must-read for pregnant women who want to better understand physiological birth and choose their care providers and birth setting accordingly’
– Sophie Walker, founder of Australian Birth Stories
‘My midwife said it was the only thing I need to read’ – Mother-to-be
Drawing on brain science, psychology, midwifery research, and the personal stories of those she has supported to birth the way they want, Rhea explains why your birth plan is not enough. Instead, exploring your own patterns of attachment, habituated nervous system response to threat and your relationship dynamics is key to feeling safe in labour.
‘For those who long to heal from a traumatic birthing experience, or for those who hope to avoid one in the first place, this book is an excellent place to begin your birth education’ – Clare Bowditch
My weekend birth preparation workshop will guide you to identify, reframe and transform your relationship with functional pain.
You will learn how to normalise ‘crisis of confidence’ moments, and explore the psychological and relationship dynamics which affect birthing potential.
Discover the importance of experienced support to back your intention for normal physiological birthing and learn how to work with pain through a dynamic labour rehearsal, breathing, movement, sound release and support strategies.
This workshop is open to partners and support people. While you can choose to attend earlier or later in pregnancy, ideally you should attend this workshop when you are between 5 and 8 months pregnant.
‘We felt that we got more out of Rhea’s course than all our antenatal classes combined’ – Tania and Jim
‘Rhea and her team are so informative and professional. My partner and I got so much out of her class and feel prepared going forward for a normal physiological birth. We walked away feeling informed, empowered and excited’ – Alex
When I gave birth to my first daughter in the late 1970s, I was shocked by the experience. I was a healthy, fit, low-risk woman (in fact, I was a PE teacher, so I was excited and confident about the challenge of physiological birth!). Despite this, and despite my intentions, the birth did not go to plan. I was left traumatised and confused.
In my quest to work out what had happened to me, my passion for birth education began.
Since then, I have trained as a childbirth educator and counsellor and have been privileged to attend more than a thousand births as a birth attendant.
I have also been honoured to work with many, many more women and their partners and support people during my birth preparation workshops, pre-natal classes, counselling sessions and in presentations and seminars around Australia and internationally.
In that time I have also witnessed an unprecedented rise in unnecessary medical interventions during birth—and the development of a culture that, instead of supporting physiological birth, undermines those who hope for it.
Feedback during my regular presentations to midwives and medical practitioners tells me my understanding of our birth system and its challenges is spot on. But more importantly, midwives tell me those who have undertaken my birth preparation classes and read my books are better prepared to navigate the many challenges they face when trying to birth without unnecessary intervention.
My passion is to help you understand the impact of our birth culture on the outcome of our births. Instead of feeling fear, I want you to go into your labour with confidence in your body and your support people, and the evidence-based knowledge that will give you the best possibility of the birth you want.
Independent Childbirth Educator, Trainer, Birth Attendant and Counsellor; T.P.T.C. (Trained Primary Teacher’s Certificate); Dip. C.B.E. (Child Birth Education); N.A.C.E. Trainer (National Association of Childbirth Educators); Grad. Dip. Counselling & Human Services (La Trobe University); Certificate of Gestalt Therapy
After a ‘very much unwanted caesarean’, Amelia made different choices for the birth of her second baby, engaging private midwives and a doula for ‘my beautiful homebirth’: ‘Reading Beyond the Birth Plan made me realise that even calling in the most amazing supportive birth team could only take me so far.’
Alice’s first birth experience ‘left deep scars when it came to trusting care providers’, she says. But research, listening to positive birth stories and reading Birth With Confidence ‘reinforced my belief in my ability to birth on my own terms’, says Alice, who had a successful VBAC for her second baby’s birth.
Jane says the birth of her second baby, Lily, was ‘a healing and very redemptive birth experience’. ‘My first baby was born with a classic cascade of interventions, I was left feeling disappointed, sad and overwhelmed in the postpartum period, along with a sense of “not being able to do it”,’ Jane wrote to Rhea. ‘I withdrew my interest in the birth world for nearly three years until I found myself pregnant again. I then found your work.’ Here, Jane shares more about her experience.
Sam, a midwife, birthed her first baby at home as part of the midwifery group practice (MGP) homebirth program at the Mercy Hospital for Women, which was introduced in October 2024.
Births occur in a context. In my second book, Beyond the Birth Plan, one woman who wanted to avoid medical intervention memorably describes her experience of being offered an epidural eleven times. All the deep-breathing exercises in the world won’t help you if your caregiver is doing that! Research shows most women want a ‘natural’ birth but say they aren’t able to in hospital. My books unpack why that is so, and what women can do about it in their birth preparation.
This is what I mean when I talk about medicalisation. I am not saying we do not need medical intervention ever. I am saying that we need to support physiological birth by recognising it is most often a healthy life event.
I’m assuming you are here because you have a yearning for physiological birth, a yearning to work with your body, your baby and the powerful building intensity of birthing energy. That you are working for a birth directed by the evolutionarily honed hormonal dance between you and your baby.
It’s estimated one in three Australian women will experience some kind of trauma during and after childbirth. While sometimes physical trauma is unavoidable, psychological trauma can have lasting effects.
In fact, one study showed more than 10 percent of Australian women show signs of post-traumatic stress 12 weeks after childbirth.
