Healing Birth

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Healing Birth is a birth trauma support organisation based in Tauranga, NZ. Carla offers personal and group support options, and online courses.

03/11/2026

Anyone else noticed the growing use of the term Oxytocin (or Oxy) when midwives or doctors are referring to Pitocin/Syntocinon?

It may seem like I’m making a big deal out of something that’s seemingly innocuous, but LANGUAGE MATTERS!

While synthetic Oxytocin (Pitocin/Syntocinon) is chemically the same compound as the naturally produced Oxytocin that we release in our brain, the way these two substances work in the body is remarkably different.

Naturally produced Oxytocin is released in waves, and the amount released is determined by a positive feedback loop (the growing intensity of the sensations in the body causes more Oxytocin to be released) during normal labour progression. The Oxytocin not only causes increasingly stronger uterine contractions, it also has important and powerful impacts on the brain. It helps us to stay in ‘labour land’ where we have wonderful access to our instinctive behaviours, helping us to birth in safe, efficient and rewarding ways. It also causes the release of endorphins that help us to transcend the pain of labour. And Oxytocin helps us to bond with our babies when they’re born.

Pitocin/Syntocinon is delivered continuously via IV. The amount is decided by the doctor. Contractions are stronger and more painful than with Oxytocin, and the lack of break between ‘doses’ means a much greater chance of fetal distress (hence the need for continuous CTG monitoring). This drug cannot cross the blood-brain barrier so doesn’t have the helpful pain-relief and bonding properties of Oxytocin.

Rarely are these differences explained to women who are being advised to have their labour induced or sped up (augmented) with Pitocin/Syntocinon (another example of lack of informed consent!).

Conflating Oxytocin with its synthetic derivative is only going to add to the belief that there’s no difference between induced or augmented labour and natural labour - NOT HELPFUL! I see so much needless trauma caused by unnecessary inductions. The normalising of these very invasive and potentially dangerous interventions is extremely concerning.

Learn more in one of my trainings. DM me to find out more 💗
x Carla

01/11/2026

Ever wondered if those interventions were really as necessary as they were made out to be?

Intervention rates in pregnancy and birth continue to soar.. ultrasound scans, induction of labour, Syntocinon/Pitocin augmentation, cesarean section, episiotomy, managed birth of placenta, separation of mother and baby after birth...

Despite the lack of backing evidence, these are advised to ‘keep the mother or baby safe’. Oftentimes women are told that they are necessary measures to save the baby’s life. Yet despite the intervention rates climbing, neonatal mortality stats remain unchanged.

A birth trauma client described being labelled a ‘gestational diabetic’ because her blood sugar was just above the medically defined norm. She was vigilant about diet and managed to keep her blood sugars within the ‘acceptable’ range for the rest of her pregnancy. Regardless, she was sent for multiple growth scans, all of which said that her baby was an average size with no concerns noted. Despite all being well, she was routinely sent for an obstetric consult. The OB advised her that she would be having an induction at 39 weeks, without explaining any of the associated risks of induction. When she asked why that was necessary, he said, “to save your baby’s life.” When she said, “But the scan showed my baby was healthy”, he replied, “I don’t trust scans.” Though she was dubious, she was scared. She went on to have a very lengthy and traumatic induction.

Every intervention entails risks. Rarely are these discussed with women. Instead they’re taught to fear the consequences of not doing as the medical ‘professionals’ tell them, and then are left with the awful fallout of a traumatic birth experience.

So, whose interests are really being served with all this push to medicalise birth? Not all is as we are conditioned to believe.

Learn more about this, and how to support women in the wake of a traumatic birth..

✨Join my Seen, Held & Heard workshop (last one for 2026 is online on Nov 11 & 12), or

✨Join my Healing Birth Practitioner Training course (next one starts Feb 2027)

🌱Comment or DM ‘WORKSHOP’ or ‘TRAINING’ for more info🌱

x Carla

26/10/2026

For many of those who play a role in offering birth trauma support, it is not until we are asked to reflect on particular aspects of our work practices, our personal beliefs, and our, often subconscious, biases, that we appreciate that we have work to do in order to be more effective in our listening and support.

We also need a basic understanding of how birth is designed to work, and of the things that interfere with that physiology, in order to be able to shift some of the guilt, shame and self doubt attached to so much of the birth trauma experience, and the troubled mothering journey that follows.

These are some of the important teachings and practices we dive into in the Seen, Held & Heard workshop.

This 2-day immersive teaches the fundamentals of holistic birth trauma support. It is open to anyone who comes across women impacted by birth trauma and who wants the skills and tools to be able to offer effective support.

🌱 Join me for the last 2026 workshop 🌱

✨ Online, Nov 11 & 12, 9am - 3.30pm ✨

For more information and to register head here: https://www.healingbirth.co.nz/workshop

I’d love to see you there!

x Carla

20/10/2026

Would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments!🔥

This is at the core of what I seek to offer guidance with in my Soulful Birth course (an online antenatal series for holistic birth and postpartum preparation). In fact, the first lesson recording is based solely around this very thing! And each of the 8 lessons includes relevant journal prompts and a guided meditation.

Soulful Birth is a mix of self-paced content and monthly live Zoom calls.

It’s designed for those who had a traumatic first birth and who want to do their all to set themselves up for a positive, healing and empowering next birth. It’s also for savvy first-time mothers who want to do what they can to avoid experiencing the needless trauma that so many are unwittingly set up for.

Join Soulful Birth at any time and stay for as long as you like - $189 nzd (Afterpay available). More info & registration link can be found here: https://www.healingbirth.co.nz/soulfulbirthgroup. Or DM me with your questions 😊

From past Soulful Birth attendees...

“The Soulful Birth course is the antenatal education that you actually need! The weekly journal prompts & guided meditations are a great resource to support you along your pregnancy journey. Carla is a wealth of knowledge in all things birth. She provides a supportive and empowering space for women and their support people to gain evidence based information and make informed choices for their birth.” Donna

“I think every mum (new or not) needs this information in their ears. It is so surprising to me how much information is lacking in standard antenatal classes/ within the system and Carla’s course opens up some evidence based dialogue, to really change your line of thinking. Carla has years of experience behind her and a safe, supportive, balanced way of delivering all of the content (with a woman centric approach - there are no agendas!) I really enjoyed the weekly meditations that helped me ground into my intuitive knowing and truth. I have sat with fears, journeyed deep into my subconscious and have left the course feeling more empowered to enter this epic rite of passage as a first time mum.” Tessa

18/10/2026

I created the Seen, Held & Heard workshop as a foundational course in how to offer holistic birth trauma support. So many people are coming across women and families impacted by a traumatic start to parenthood, and they wish they had the tools and insights to be able to give some much needed support. It’s those tools and insights that I teach in this 2-day workshop.

Many have heard about my signature Healing Birth Practitioner Training (HBPT) course that I have been running for almost 6 years now. It’s a significant investment of time, energy and money, doing that 10 week training. For those who are unsure whether they are ready to commit to that, the workshop is a great stepping stone to test the waters and decide whether to delve deeper. Plus, those who do the workshop receive a $150 discount when they join the HBPT course.

If you know you could do with some guidance around understanding birth trauma and the fundamentals of how to support those who have experienced it, head along to a Seen, Held & Heard workshop.

My last workshop for 2027 is an online one. It will take place on Wednesday 11th & Thursday 12th November, 9am - 3.30pm.
$327 (AfterPay available). Or DM if you need to arrange a payment plan.

My inbox is open if you have any questions. Or if you send me a ‘Workshop’ I’ll share the registration link with you 💖

16/10/2026

I can’t offer all the support you need and deserve, but something I do well is help mothers feel really seen, held and heard.

If you experienced a traumatic birth, or pregnancy, or start to motherhood, I would love to guide you on your healing journey.

I’ve spent the past 11 years working in holistic birth trauma support, helping hundreds of women to heal from their experience.

Check out the Healing tab of my website, or send me a DM and I’ll get straight back to you 💜

Or, if you’re reading this as someone who would like the skills, tools and know-how to offer the type of birth trauma support that I do, check out the Training tab in my website. I’m running one last Seen, Held & Heard workshop (online) for 2027. DM me ‘Workshop’ to learn more.

x Carla

13/10/2026

Working with birth trauma clients reveals, time and again, how our over-medicalised birth system causes so much needless trauma. This particular story entailed the following two common fear-based interventions that ultimately sabotaged her perfectly healthy birth process and caused a s**t tonne of unnecessary trauma...

BIG BABY SCAN - the 20 wk anatomy scan, often deemed routine, rather than an optional intervention with its own risks, showed the abdominal circumference to be larger than expected. Consequently she was advised to have further scans to monitor baby’s growth, and to have diabetes screening (returned normal results). At 39 wks she was told the baby’s weight was sitting at the 95th percentile and was advised of the complications that having a ‘big baby’ can cause, eg shoulder dystocia. Her midwife said that she would suggest birthing in hospital rather than at home, as was planned, because of the risks associated with a ‘big baby’. Baby ended up being 8.5 pounds - not particularly big at all!

The mama laboured beautifully at home with just her partner there. When she arrived at hospital she was examined (*ugh*) & found to be 10cm. Her body apparently knew what it was doing when she was at home not being monitored by anyone!

BEING TOLD WHEN TO PUSH - Because she was fully dilated the assumption was made (as it frequently seems to be) that she was ready to start pushing and she was told to do just that. Although she had no spontaneous urge to push, she trusted that her midwife knew more about these things, and did as advised. After an hour of pushing with no progress she was getting exhausted and feeling defeated. She had an epidural. More coached pushing followed a rest period. Baby got stuck due to being asynclitic (head on an odd angle) - not really surprising when pushing baby down before baby and/or mum are ready! Baby was forcefully pulled out with forceps and mum had an episiotomy (with horrid postpartum infection and ongoing issues with scar tissue and viewing her body as ‘disgusting’ now). Continued in comments…

05/10/2026

My next cohort of Healing Birth Practitioner trainees are nearing the end of their training with me. As their final assessment task, they are required to hold an Unravelling Your Trauma session with someone, and to gain feedback from the person they worked with.

If you are interested in having a session with one of my fabulous team of trainees, this is a really wonderful win-win opportunity.

The session takes place via Zoom (so it doesn’t matter where in the world you live), and is likely to last around 2 hours. The Healing Birth trainee will support you to talk through your story, help you unravel it so that you can gain a clearer understanding of why you have been left feeling the ways you do about your birth, and offer you some tools for ongoing processing and healing. They will also send you a follow-up email which covers any suggested tools, resources, instructions etc that were discussed.

In exchange, you are asked to fill out a feedback survey for them, and give them a small koha/donation.

Please DM me, ‘Trainee’, if you are interested in taking advantage of this offer.

If you are someone who is potentially keen to do my Healing Birth Practitioner Training yourself, and you have your own story of birth trauma, putting your hand up for one of these sessions can be a really helpful way to gain deeper insight into the training before making a call about it (it’s also really good to have had an opportunity to work through your birth trauma before commencing the training).

My next Healing Birth Practitioner Training programme begins in February 2027. DM me ‘HBPT’ to learn more.

x Carla

29/09/2026

I spent last weekend down in Kāpiti teaching the fundamentals of holistic birth trauma support to these wonderful, heart-centred women.

The weekend was filled with insightful conversations, tears, laughs, vulnerable shares, deep listening, connection and yummy snacks. My 7 hour drive home was filled with gratitude and pride.

It feels awkward to express pride in the trainings I’ve created. But honestly, 11 years of working in holistic birth trauma support has taught me SO MUCH pressing knowledge about birth trauma and how to sensitively guide someone on their healing journey. I owe it to all the families I have had the privilege of working with to pass on what they have taught me.

I am always so grateful to the women who engage with my trainings, equipping themselves with the skills and knowledge needed to offer support to struggling new families. Goodness knows our community needs more of that!

Among the attendees of the Kāpiti workshop were a midwife, an osteopath, childbirth educators, a doula, and local home birth group volunteers.

In their feedback, they gave the Workshop 9.6/10 for how informative it was, and 9.7/10 for my facilitation. Yuss!!! My heart was certainly full on my long drive home!

I’m offering one more Seen, Held & Heard workshop in 2026. It’s an online one...
Wed/Thurs, 11 & 12 November
9am - 3.30pm
$327 (AfterPay available)

Comment or DM me WORKSHOP to be sent the link to register. Or fire away with any questions you might have.

x Carla

14/09/2026

When I run my birth trauma support training programmes, many trainees say that learning about their own rescuer mindset was eye opening and really helpful.

In order to be able to hold a safe space for someone to open up about their traumatic birth, we need to be aware of our biases and beliefs.

For many, it is not until we are asked to reflect on particular aspects of our work practices, our personal beliefs and our, often subconscious, biases, that we appreciate that we have work to do in order to be more effective in our listening and support.

These are some of the important teachings and practices we dive into in the Seen, Held & Heard workshop.

This 2-day immersive teaches the fundamentals of holistic birth trauma support. It is open to anyone who comes across women impacted by birth trauma and who wants the skills and tools to be able to offer effective support.

Join me in-person or online.

Kāpiti, Sept 19-20
Online, Oct 15-16

I’d love to see you there! Comment ‘Workshop’ for more details.

x Carla

Address

Tauranga
3118

Website

http://www.healingbirth.co.nz/

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