Sophie Walker felt prepared going into her first birth, but after 24 hours of labour, found herself "stuck at five centimetres".The birth ended in an episiotomy, forceps delivery, and postpartum haemorrhage.Sophie Walker started a podcast to help women share birthing stories.
It inspired her to set up the hugely successful Australian Birth Stories podcast where she interviews women about their journey to motherhood. Jane Svensson said it was important all parents had access to evidence-based antenatal education, and that ideally, it was free. Dr Batey said she routinely saw women who had experienced physical trauma from their first birth say they would have made different choices with more information.
"You don't want to frighten women … but you also don't want them looking back and saying, 'well, if I'd known about that, I would have chosen another path'," Dr Batey said.Danielle wants to see birth education overhauled so women can be empowered to make informed decisions.