Thrive Birth & Beyond

For those based in or near Tauranga, Carla offers a FREE birth and postpartum preparation series, called Thrive Birth & Beyond. Lessons are usually held in the Education Room at the bottom of the Bethlehem Birthing Centre. There are a mix of weekend courses and week-day evening courses (run over 4 weeks).

These classes are for first-time parents, as well as for those who are pregnant again, wanting extra support and guidance around setting themselves up for a positive and empowering birth and postpartum.

With a background in midwifery and education, and having worked predominantly in the field of birth trauma support and training since 2015, Carla has a wealth of knowledge about how to mitigate the chances of you having a traumatic birth experience (which is unfortunately the experience of at least 1 in 3 new mothers), and how to maximise the likelihood of your birth and postpartum being empowering and positive.

Hot tip... You might want to join the following Facebook group which is aimed at serving the needs of expecting mamas who are seeking information, support and guidance to birth their way. It's called Aotearoa/NZ Mamas-to-be (due Feb-Dec 2025): Support to birth your way.

Upcoming Classes

Weekend: March 15 & 16, 9am - 3pm

Week-day: Monday March 31; April 7; April 14; April 21, 6 - 8.30pm

Weekend: May 3rd & 4th, 9am - 3pm

If you are interested in registering for a class, click the button below to send Carla a message. Don't forget to mention which Thrive class you are keen to register for

What we cover in Thrive Birth & Beyond classes

Exploring Our Beliefs - We discuss underlying assumptions & conditioned beliefs about birth, mothering, our bodies, our instincts & our intuition. We're often quite unaware of the unhelpful and misinformed beliefs we hold until we are invited to consider them!

How Birth Works (aka Birthing Physiology) - We look at how our birthing bodies are designed to get our babies born in safe and rewarding ways. The strong links between mind and body are discussed and we talk about ways we can be supported to access all the helpful hormones in labour. Lots for the partners/birth support people to take away here.

Birthing Your Way - Keeping Fear at Bay - Going into birth, some fear is absolutely normal. But too much fear interferes with our birth hormones and can make labour longer and more painful. We talk about how to create safety in birth, including the impacts of birth place, birth companions, and some commonly used, but often completely unnecessary, interventions. This equips you to make good informed decisions for yourself.

Rights & Responsibilities - We discuss who is responsible for what, when it comes to decisions that affect your pregnancy, your birth and your baby. And we talk about what your rights are as a consumer of healthcare services.

Pain Management - A lot of people fear that they won't be able to cope with the pain of labour, especially after the horror stories they've heard. We'll discuss how to get your natural painkillers (endorphins) onboard, and supportive non-medical ways to help with pain relief. Medical pain management will also be discussed.

Preparing for a Positive Postpartum - We talk about postpartum needs and how to set yourselves up as best you can to ensure they're met. Breastfeeding and normal newborn behaviours are discussed as part of this section of the course.

If you are interested in registering for one of the Thrive Birth & Beyond courses, send a message to Carla by clicking the button below (don't forget to tell her what course/dates you want to register for).