Dr Rachel Reed is a midwife, academic, author and sought-after international speaker. Her focus is childbirth physiology, care provider practice and women's rights (and rites). Rachel has published widely in journals, magazines and writes an award-winning blog, MidwifeThinking. Her first book, Why induction matters, published in 2018, is a popular resource for women and care providers. As a researcher, Rachel studies women's experiences of birth and the influence of care provider interactions. Her work is cited in evidence-based guidelines and textbooks that inform clinical practice. Rachel has designed and implemented midwifery education programs and supervises research students. She is also an experienced midwife, having attended many births in a range of settings and circumstances. Rachel is originally from the North East of England but now lives in a forest in Australia with a variety of humans and animals including her peacock, Eddie.
I have always loved the way Rachel Reed thinks and this book is an
extension of her thinking. Three hundred years ago Rachel would
have been the wise woman of the village and 300 years later she is
calling to that village of women, where childbirth always has and
always will sit at the throbbing heart. - Hannah Dahlen, Professor
of Midwifery, Western Sydney University
I love so much about the wisdom shared in this book. In particular,
I love that Rachel uses as her central narrative a beautiful and
detailed description of the normal undisturbed physiology of birth.
She describes the birth-dance shared between mother and baby,
including the hormones, instinctive body processes, brain changes,
sensations and feeling states. - Rhea Dempsey, childbirth educator,
birth attendant, counsellor and author of Birth with confidence:
savvy choices for normal birth and Beyond the birth plan: getting
real about pain and power
Brilliant! Rachel has deftly woven a rich fabric of 'ancient wisdom
and modern knowledge'. It is durable, it is wearable and, in usual
Rachel Reed style, refuses to conform. With sound logic, she
confronts and challenges us to rethink and reject erroneous
assumptions and behaviours around care-providing by exploring their
origins, and why we acquiesce and cling to them. - Jenny Blyth,
independent birth worker, birth educator and bodyworker, film-maker
and author of The down to earth birth book and Birthwork: a
compassionate guide to being with birth
Reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage is the book we have been
missing. The analogy of weaving is right at the heart of this book,
giving shape and structure to the threads that run through the
chapters. Understanding childbirth today requires that we explore
the herstory of birth and how the rites and rituals that once
served us were stripped away. Rachel Reed's description of
childbirth is one of the most beautiful and illuminating I have
ever read, illustrated as it is by the fictional narrative thread
of Eve and her birth story. This book has positivity at its core,
not only listing the birth rites we have lost, but recounting the
many rituals that we can reclaim and integrate into the lived
experience of childbirth and postpartum. - Maddie Mahon, doula,
doula trainer, birth activist, breastfeeding counsellor and author
of Why doulas matter and Why mothering matters
This book weaves together ancient knowledge, herstory, science,
customs, politics and the ancient art of midwifery, all of which
combine to create the understory or - as Rachel aptly names it the
waft and weft, that the weaving, or the experience of birthing in
the modern world, happens within. Rachel weaves this all together
so we can see what's going on in birth today and invites the reader
to awaken to the situation. She then puts forth a call to action to
all to participate in reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage
into motherhood for all women, no matter what. And her book offers
all the evidence required to support this reclamation. - Jane
Hardwicke Collings, founder of the School of Shamanic Womancraft,
teacher of the Women's Mysteries, author of Ten moons: the inner
journey of pregnancy
Reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage is essential reading for
all women, midwives, doctors and birth workers. In fact, anyone who
is planning on being around women during birth needs to read this
book! Dr Reed leads us through herstory with the story of Eve,
weaving ancient wisdom and current research in such a divine way
that makes reading this book an absolute pleasure. - Dr Clare
Davison, private practice midwife and midwifery academic
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