Wellness
Why so much birth trauma is preventable, and how preparation helps
Doula and educator Nadine Richardson explains why fear around birth is rising, what the numbers in Australia show, and how knowledge, tools and a prepared birth team change the outcome.
The Science and Wisdom of Empowered Birth with Nadine Richardson & She Births
Video from GV Meditation.
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How can birth preparation reduce fear and birth trauma?
Birth preparation reduces fear and trauma when it does more than hand over facts. Nadine Richardson says good education teaches options and practical tools, readies the partner to support and advocate, and brings the mother back into her body, so she can ask for individual care and feel safe whatever unfolds.
Fear around birth is growing, and Nadine Richardson has watched it happen across more than 20 years of teaching She Births. In a conversation on the Unbound podcast, the doula, childbirth educator and author linked much of that rise to the last eight to ten years, when phones and endless scrolling became the main way expectant parents look for answers.
The numbers she shared from Australia are stark. Over 20 years the medical induction rate has doubled, and about half of first-time mothers are now induced. Over 25 years the caesarean rate has also doubled, from 20 to 40 percent. She sees these trends as signs of a system that feeds on fear rather than easing it.
Yet her central message is hopeful. Most birth trauma, she argues, is not caused by an emergency but by how women are spoken to and supported. With the right preparation, parents can understand their options, stay connected to their bodies and build a team that keeps them safe, which changes both how birth unfolds and how it is remembered.
Key takeaways
- About 30 percent of women describe their birth as traumatic, and Nadine says around 70 percent of that is preventable.
- A randomised trial of She Births education found large drops in caesarean and epidural rates compared with standard classes.
- Partners do much of the hands-on work in labour, so their own fear needs to be addressed before the day.
- Continuity of care from a known midwife, plus a doula, gives the best outcomes for mothers and babies.
1. Why fear and intervention are rising
Nadine describes fear as prolific in birth today. She traces it partly to what she calls the little black mirror in every pocket: access to information that promised empowerment but, for most people, has fed anxiety and a growing mistrust of nature, the body and birth itself. The scrolling does not prepare parents; it unsettles them.
That anxiety meets a maternity system that tends to take over the moment it senses fear. In Australia, she notes, induction and caesarean rates have each doubled over two decades. She points to labelling and testing in maternal fetal medicine as the place where the cascade of intervention often begins, long before labour starts.
The cost shows up afterwards. Around 30 percent of women describe their birth as traumatic, a figure she cites from New South Wales and UK regions. Within that group, she says, 70 percent of the trauma is preventable, because it comes from how a woman is spoken to rather than from a genuine clinical event such as high blood pressure.
2. What good birth education actually does
She Births ran for seven years before it had scientific data behind it. A randomised controlled trial in two major hospitals then compared its education with standard hospital classes across almost 180 families, taught by others to avoid a conflict of interest. Nadine reports caesareans cut by 50 percent, epidurals by 65 percent and newborn resuscitation by 53 percent.
For her, information alone is not the point. Real agency comes from connection to self, to stillness and to silence. Parents can learn the facts and still end up fighting the system, but birth should not be a battle. Knowing the options lets a woman ask for individual care, such as regular monitoring instead of an automatic induction.
The practical side matters just as much. People are told birth is about relaxation, she says, but someone has to teach them how to relax. Her approach works top down and bottom up: breathing, massage and relaxation calm the body, which shifts the mind, while knowledge and regular practice make it easier to soften and let go.
3. Building a birth team that keeps fear out of the room
Most people do not realise they will labour largely on their own in hospital, because no maternity ward can predict its staffing. That makes the partner central. Nadine calls them daddy doulas: the people who support, protect and advocate, squeezing hips through every contraction, holding heat packs and coaching the mother through her breath.
Their state of mind travels. During labour a mother is open and highly sensitive, and the brain stays unusually plastic through pregnancy and the two years after. If she senses panic in her partner, it will stress her. Partners who understand what is coming, and have practical tools ready, bring calm rather than fear into the room.
Beyond the partner, Nadine names continuity of care from a known midwife as the gold standard, followed by a doula, which she links to less preterm birth, fewer caesareans and lower rates of depression and trauma. Her book, She Births: Your practical guide to a beautiful birth, was written partly so readers can travel with her as their doula for months, with reflection prompts at the end of every chapter.
