Hi, I’m Naama Sela
doula, childbirth educator, and postnatal doula based in Havelock North, New Zealand.
For the past 20 years, I’ve supported women through pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and early motherhood, attended close to 200 births, helped hundreds of couples prepare for childbirth, and, over the years, taught doulas, childbirth educators, and midwives.
I love supporting women who already arrive feeling calm and confident about birth.
But the women I tend to connect with most deeply are often the women who don’t.
I understand that deeply because I was never exactly the obvious candidate for calm, confident, natural birth myself –
I never had the patience for yoga.
Whenever I tried meditation or relaxation exercises, I usually found myself thinking about ten different things… or falling asleep.
I suffered from a medical condition that caused pain during physical intimacy, so the whole idea of how a baby was even supposed to come out of my body felt pretty unimaginable to me.
And because I went through periods of low energy and low mood, I worried I might find the daily demands of motherhood more than I could handle.
And yet, alongside all the things that could have made me feel like I wasn’t exactly built for birth and motherhood, there was also another perspective that stayed with me from childhood.
When I was nearly eight years old, my mother gave birth to my younger sister at home, and she allowed me to be there with her during the birth.
And the thing that stayed with me from that experience was this:
Birth was… normal.
Not something only certain “special” women were capable of.
Just something ordinary women do.
It wasn’t something that felt important back then, but years later, when I was facing my own births, it gave me a simple sense that maybe it was okay.
I have my own struggles, but that doesn’t mean I’m any less capable of giving birth than any other woman – because birth is something you do as yourself.
It helped me prepare for birth in a way that felt genuinely right for me – without feeling pressured to follow what was supposedly the “correct” way to give birth, and without becoming attached to one fixed idea of what my birth had to look like in order to be good or meaningful.
Eventually, my children were born in three healthy, joyful, uncomplicated births – each one a little different from the others.
And over time, that perspective also became one of the beliefs that guides me most strongly in my work with women:
Not helping them become someone else in order to birth well, but helping them find their own way through birth and motherhood by building on what’s already there within them.
Is this all just luck?
Sometimes when I explain what I do, I meet people who feel this whole field is a bit airy-fairy – and birth depends mostly on luck and your natural disposition – and that support is nice, but can’t really change very much.
And honestly, I asked myself those same questions too.
Can the right tools and support influence the likelihood of a caesarean,
tearing, pain levels, or a traumatic experience?
The more I explored those questions, the more I realised that the reason birth can sometimes feel like luck or fate is because most people are taught to simply “know more” about birth, and information alone doesn’t necessarily help someone stay calmer during intense contractions, respond differently to fear, or feel more capable under pressure.
But effective tools and evidence-based guidance often can.
And over time, that understanding changed the way I work.
How I work
I’m not there simply to “be with you” while birth happens.
I’m there to help shape the experience with you.
Over the years, I’ve seen all kinds of women –
women who came in with fears, thinking they couldn’t handle pain, doubting their bodies’ ability, or simply anxious about what was coming – go on to have deeply positive experiences..
Emotional preparation
Building confidence, reducing fear, and creatinga mindset that supports you.
Real-time birth support
Practical, grounded, and intuitive support throughout labour and birth.
Postnatal guidance
Support for recovery. breastfeeding. emotional well-being, and stepping into motherhood.
You do not need to become someone else in order to birth well
You simply need support that helps you work with who you already are
I know you have already faced every challenge that birth might bring to your door – fear, pain, uncertainty, loss of control, or stepping into the unknown.
It means you’ve already spent a lifetime learning how you respond to and overcome these experiences when you need to.
Which is why I don’t believe good birth preparation is about teaching women one “correct” way to cope, relax, breathe, think, or give birth.
It’s about helping each woman understand herself more deeply –
what genuinely helps her feel calmer, stronger, safer, more capable, and better able to work with pain, fear, intensity, and uncertainty –
and then using that understanding to discover what will actually work for her in real life –
not just changing the way she feels about birth, but changing birth itself.
I am here to help you, make this season of life become the best version of itself – something you can one day look back on with warmth, pride, and a smile.
And if you feel like I might be the right person to support you, I’d love to connect.
Let’s find what kind of support feels right for you.
