Healing Birth with Carla

In this episode, Sarah who, like me, is an ex midwife, and I discuss all sorts of birthy goodness. Sarah shares about how she came to the realisation that the maternity system is seriously flawed and why being a hospital midwife was no longer her calling. She talks about her own birth experiences, from a medicated hospital birth to a jumping-through-hoops midwife-supported home birth, and then to...

Today’s guest is Stacey, an Australian mama of two. She shares about her traumatic first birth where there were unnecessary time constraints, threats of cesarean, pressure to agree to have Syntocinon to speed things up, episiotomy, ventouse, and unnecessary separation from her newborn. Stacey’s next pregnancy involved a lot of soul searching, self discovery, trauma healing and communication with h...

This deeply moving podcast episode takes us on an emotional rollercoaster. I’m not in the habit of providing trigger warnings, but Jo’s raw sharing about the many significant traumas she endured, especially during the early years of her mothering life, are quite frankly, extremely difficult to hear. She shares about the postnatal psychosis she developed after 5 months of sleeplessness when her twi...

In today’s podcast episode Wikitoria, or Wiki for short, shares about the traumatic birth of her first-born, an experience that culminated in an emergency cesarean and time separated from her baby during his SCBU stay, and one which left Wiki with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Wiki accessed a number of avenues for support during her incredibly trying postpartum journey, but it wasn’t unti...

In previous episodes with Bella, she shared about her foiled plans for a gentle home birth with her firstborn - a traumatic way to learn some tough lessons about birth space support and energies; about early loss experiences she had been through; about the wild pregnancy she was embarking on; and about her plans for a free birth. In this interview, the final in the three part series, Bella opens u...

Today I speak with Sarah while she holds her little 3 week old daughter, Chloe. Chloe’s was a positive and healing home birth, a far cry from the traumatic experience Sarah had had with her first born, Ollie. He had been posterior, something that Sarah’s midwife had instilled fear in her around, and that fear ultimately led to a very painful and long labour which ended with an epidural and then a...

After her 40 days old first born had a stroke, Alina developed a growing understanding of brain growth and function, and the part that movement plays in this. She now helps people to move without pain and discomfort, including in pregnancy or after giving birth, using her Feldenkrais® training, and the additional skills she developed from the Explain Pain course she did with the Neuro-Orthopaedic...

In this episode of the Healing Birth with Carla podcast, Imke shares with us about her harrowing start to motherhood. Her traumatic birth experience was followed by an incredibly trying time postpartum, including severe mastitis, a breast abscess that required surgical drainage, an overwhelmed comment to her midwife that resulted in the police turning up at her door, and finally, some recognition...

Hannah is a spiritually minded, home birthing mother of four littlies under the age of five. When her newest baby, Awena, was just 10 days old, Hannah received a horrifying diagnosis. In this episode of the Healing Birth podcast, I sit down with Hannah to discuss how she navigated this incredibly overwhelming time, and how she is managing to recover with such remarkable ease. We also talk about se...

In today’s episode Kayla (the Womb Doula) vulnerably shares her personal story of trauma and her path to healing. Her journey involves baby loss, meth addiction, home detention, surgery and the questionable fertility that ensued, menstrual cycle awareness, an unexpected pregnancy, becoming a womb doula, a healing home birth, and the challenges of solo motherhood. It’s a lot to encompass in a 90 mi...

Today you get to hear me dive into conversation with a truly wise ‘with woman’ midwife who has devoted the better part of 46 years of service to her midwifery role. Jenny Johnston is a self-proclaimed introvert who loves books almost as much as she loves birth, so it was a great privilege and honour to have her open up about her wealth of experience and knowledge regarding midwifery, birth, and th...

Today I’m joined by Hannah, who shares with us about the traumatic experience she encountered when she was nearing the end of her pregnancy with her second baby. Having had a very straightforward first birth in a birth centre, Hannah had opted for a home birth with her second. But when she began haemorrhaging at 36 weeks, her plans for a peaceful, gentle home birth were foiled. She was experiencin...

Tania is Mum to Dylan who’s 16, Ava who’s 12, and her little freshy, Osian, who’s just two months. In this episode, she shares about the challenges she was met with when she found out she was unexpectedly pregnant last year, and how she navigated them with a healthy dose of determination and self work, and the help of friends, family and an awesome midwife. Given that Tania had had caesareans with...

Nemah is a travelling traditional full spectrum Midwife, from fertility and conception to passing, and everything in between, specialising in traditional home births. She has travelled the world with her children, and has assisted in over 2,000 births worldwide over the last 15 years. Currently Nemah is working on an aboriginal birthing documentary in over five countries which has given her a weal...

If you haven't already listened to episode 24 - part 1 of Lala's story, I suggest you do so before cracking into this one. In part 2 of my interview with Lala, we learn about the surprising circumstances surrounding the home birth of her 4th baby, about her traumatic ectopic pregnancy loss and about her last birth experience - a healing home birth-esque cesarean with her fifth child. After...

Today I speak with Lala about the first four of her five births. She has experienced the whole plethora of births, from a traumatic cesarean when she was a single teen mum, to an empowering home birth of her very large and awkwardly positioned baby. And everything in between!  In this episode we hear about the early loss of one twin, about the 10 years it took to properly bond with one of her chil...

Hannah’s beginning to motherhood was not only tainted with the recent passing of her sister, her birth experience was in a different city, took place in a different birthing facility (hospital instead of a birth centre), and with different midwives, than she had spent the previous nine months planning for and excitedly anticipating. She was also subjected to unconsented procedures that were unnece...

In this episode I interview Denée about her two very contrasting birth experiences and the work that she did between them both, to heal and plan, and to find the courage and self-determination to birth her second baby her way. Denée’s first birth resulted in vaginal tears, one of which was initially missed, and a postpartum haemorrhage, requiring a blood transfusion. Consequently, Denée was met wi...

Today I am privileged to be speaking with renowned Australian birth worker, Rhea Dempsey. Rhea is an Independent Birth Educator, Doula, Trainer, Counsellor and Author. Her understanding of birth has been gained over four decades. She has presented nationally and internationally. She is recognised as an insightful commentator on the difficulties women, who have a yearning for normal physiological b...

Two women on a similar mission, both with a business named Healing Birth, and both sharing aligned messages about finding healing after a traumatic birth on their similarly named podcasts… Diana Forsell interviews me, Carla Sargent, on this episode of her Healing Birth podcast, which I’m now sharing here, on my own Healing Birth with Carla podcast.  Find out how Diana (from Hawaii) and I (fro...

You’re in for a treat today! In this episode I speak with renowned birth trauma specialist, Jennifer Summerfeldt. Jennifer holds an MA in Counseling Psychology (MACP) and is a Certified Canadian Counsellor (CCC). She is the CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) and Founder of ASK Therapy for Moms. With over 20 years of experience within the fields of maternal health, childbirth and psychology studies, she u...

Today’s guest is Atarua, who hails from the Waikato, and is of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāpuhi decent. She is a strong Māori wahine, adored by her tane and a loving Māmā of five ātaahua tamariki. To translate for those who aren’t familiar with te reo, Ata is an awesome Māori woman whose man adores her, and she is a loving mum to her five beautiful children. In this episode of the Healing Birth Podcast, Ata...

This is the second episode in a pregnancy and birth podcast series with Mother, Doula and Healing Birth Practitioner, Bella. We first met Bella in Episode 7 of the Healing Birth Podcast when she shared her journey through loss and trauma, and into the early months of her current wild pregnancy. In this episode, as she enters the third trimester of her pregnancy, Bella describes what lies at the he...

Dr. Naomi Simmonds (Raukawa, Ngāti Huri) works as an independent researcher with a focus on land-based learning, women’s land-based knowledges, Māori maternities and whānau (or family) wellbeing. Her most recent research involved walking 378km, re-tracing the journey of her pregnant ancestress, Māhinaarangi, to understand the transformations, knowledges and rituals for women that are embedded in t...

Sarah is a Mindset Coach, Energy Healer and Healing Birth Practitioner who supports Mums to manage their mind and, in Sarah’s no-beating-around-the-bush words, own their shit . She helps others to work through past traumas, limiting beliefs, self-sabotaging behaviours, and people pleasing ways so that they can live an aligned and AUTHENTIC AF (Sarah’s business tagline) life as thriving individuals...