In this episode I discuss birth trauma with Carla Sargent, a healing birth practitioner. Carla has a background in midwifery and is based in Tauranga, New Zealand. Carla is the author of the book ‘Where the Heart is - Stories of home birth in New Zealand’, she provides birth trauma support, provides Healing Birth Practitioner Training, has an online birth preparation course (‘Soulful Birth’) and has a podcast. For more about Carla check out her website: healingbirth.co.nz

In this episode we discuss: 

• Carla’s background and her awesome home birth experiences with her three babies.

• Midwifery in New Zealand. 

• How Carla became involved in providing birth trauma support. 

• What is birth trauma? 

• Are birth trauma rates increasing? 

• Rising rates of birth interventions contributing to the rise in birth trauma. 

• Hospital vs home birth. Can you actually have a physiological birth in the hospital? 

• Cascade of interventions in the hospital system. 

• How can pregnant moms prevent themselves experiencing birth trauma with their first birth?