What sort of birth are you going to have? I know someone who knows ;)

Tonight is the second round of the first Birth Options Workshops here in Melbourne, in the BellyBelly Centre in Canterbury.

Tonight, my wonderful, awesome and wise teacher Rhea Dempsey will be presenting, which is her trademark session, 'The Birth Matrix.' She is incredible, she knows birth and she is VERY good at predicting what sort of birth you might have. Seriously! She will teach you how she does it, TONIGHT - this is the session midwives nod their heads in agreeance with how she does it! She teaches midwives this stuff... and best of all, there are FREE seats available.

If you would like to come along, please bring your partner if you have one and phone Deb on 0432 932 606 or you can book for yourself via the BellyBelly Appointment System. It will have prices, but ignore it, it's free for you special people ;) Click the link below and use the drop down menu to pick the event 'Birth Options' for a single or couple. Again no charge will be incurred. Hope to see some of you there. I will be the one with the whopping great ugly plaster on my face and the snuffly, runny nose!

Book here!

I would love to go to this when I am pregnant. I hope you might run it again in the future :D

They will run permanently now but they wont be free after this first one - but is very worth the investment.

Perhaps a silly question but is it still worthwile for #2 (#1 was drug & stitch free, hoping to repeat that this time)?

ETA: with bookings, how many free seats are there and how late can I leave it to book?! Trying to get hold of another pregnant friend to come along and don't want to have to cancel a booking, that's all!

Of course!!! Never too late. I dont know how many are left but book if you are confirmed to go and Deb will let you know if there are not enough places. You should be fine though. You'll seriously love the talk, Rhea is fabulous.

Hi Kelly

I'm new to this site and have been looking at workshops on the internet so that I can understand my options for my birth and how the system works; find out more about natural birth, relaxation etc so that I can have the birth I want. I followed your link to the booking page but am unsure as to where I'm booking for? Does this site book me into the Birth Options Workshops or if it something else?

Sorry just a bit lost at the moment as to where to find the best classes in my area. I live in Heidelberg areas.

Hope you or someone can point me in the right direction. I'm still at a loss as to whether to use a Doula or a Midwife or both, have a home or birthing centre birth etc and it's funny how everyone assumes you want what's deemed 'normal' :)

Just ring the number in Kels post. You really should go, especially since its FREE!!

Its a brilliant opportunity, Krystie you should go anyway, we all know you will be UTD in no time xoxoxoxoxo

Hm. The Birthing Options Workshop was on Thursday night.

I quite enjoyed it. Was suprised there were only a few peops there. It reinforced a whole lot of things I'd learnt here on BB in terms of private/public interventions, support peops, stupidity of the current medicalised birthing system etc. etc. but was still great to go and hear Rhea. What blew my mind was that only 2% of women use birthing centres. Wow. I feel so special now!

For future reference, on the booking page, there were two options for the birthing options, one that said $75 and one right down the bottom of the drop down box that said $0. It's in Canturbury so not sure how far away you are. Pinky Mcay (sp) is there next week so should be good.

Hey all

I've been in contact with Kelly and Lael Stone about the workshops and doing some investigating.

What I really want is minimal intervention - so my bod can do what I'm confident it's built for (I may change my mind pretty quickly during the birth lol); I want some quiet with my DP and Doula (if I have one); and I REALLY want a birthing pool!

I have asked at the Mercy (Heidelberg), which is where I'm booked in to have Mini Simon but they don't use the pools. They do have baths but I have no idea if these are standard home baths or spas etc but figure a small bath wouldn't really serve the same purpose (weightlessness and ability to move around). I LURVE water and often use it to relax so this seems like a natural choice for me but seems like a difficult thing to achieve unless you have a home birth.

Does anybody know if a birthing centre or something similar that has this water birth option??? My DP is too afraid of me birthing at home even though we live around the corner from the Mercy! I'm not so worried but his friend's wife had a scare recently after giving birth and I think this has made him worry.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Most of the baths are a decent size in the birthing suites - not a standard bath size but if you want a water birth try the Royal Womens - they are opening their new hospital on the 22nd and it sounds great - (lots of single rooms!) and I think they do water birth? From memory the Monash in Clayton and Angliss in Ferntree Gully ( a bit far sorry) do as well. Good luck getting the birth you want!

There's only two birthing centres in Vic (what I learnt on Thursday!), Monash and the Angliss (both public - yay). There used to be 6 :( Apparantly Box Hill have the best spas. Interestingly the Mercy have apparantly been trying to get waterbirths 'allowed' for the last 10 years to no avail. Anyway, sorry that none of this info helps you.

Perhaps get your DH to read up on homebirths (only .2% of bubs are home births - another Thursday fact!).

Thanks guys.

Tan - where is the new Royal Women's hospital opening or is it the same place but new wing?

Hi chocolatecatty - The Mercy also has a birthing centre (or is that different to what you are referring to?). The Mercy one is attached to the hospital itself but I'm not sure if there are any independent ones out there? Yeah knew home births were not common in this country! My DP is also concerned as he works in Path at the Austin and sees how many patients transferred in from a homebirth! I think he is noticing this stuff now because he is tuning in ;-)

Will do some more investigating! Who would have ever thought that this would all be so complex :)

So you found the workshop really beneficial then? Do you know what you want to do now re your birth? Are you considering the Calmbirth workshop at all?

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Just got home from spending time with new friends. My friend Kylie has twin 8 yo boys. We spent about an hour outside kicking the footie - apparently they need to get me used to being with boys as I'm having one ;-) Was so much fun!

Thanks guys.

Tan - where is the new Royal Women's hospital opening or is it the same place but new wing?

Hi chocolatecatty - The Mercy also has a birthing centre (or is that different to what you are referring to?). The Mercy one is attached to the hospital itself but I'm not sure if there are any independent ones out there? Yeah knew home births were not common in this country! My DP is also concerned as he works in Path at the Austin and sees how many patients transferred in from a homebirth! I think he is noticing this stuff now because he is tuning in ;-)

Will do some more investigating! Who would have ever thought that this would all be so complex :)

So you found the workshop really beneficial then? Do you know what you want to do now re your birth? Are you considering the Calmbirth workshop at all?

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Just got home from spending time with new friends. My friend Kylie has twin 8 yo boys. We spent about an hour outside kicking the footie - apparently they need to get me used to being with boys as I'm having one ;-) Was so much fun!

Sorry about the double-up guys, having some net issues!