Where to Give Birth

There are a few different options as to where you give birth, and these will depend on your needs, risks and, to some extent, on where you live.

No matter where you choose, the place should feel right for you. You can change your mind at any point throughout your pregnancy journey.

Why at Home?

Birthing pēpi at home is a growing option for normal healthy hapu women and their whanau. In 2022 we supported 38 families to birth at home.

We agree with ‘Homebirth Aotearoa’ in that “the empowerment of women to birth their babies in the way that they choose to do so, in the comfort and safety of their own home is so significant to be immeasurable. Home birth offers the best environment to an unmedicated birth with significantly less likelihood of unnecessary interventions”.

The benefits are felt by the whole whanau. Partners and extended family can support the hapū wahine fully and baby’s siblings can be as involved as much as you wish. Your Kāpiti midwife will discuss the appropriateness of home with you as a planned place of birth.

Visit Homebirth Aotearoa’s website for information and research on the safety of birthing at home and some inspiring Kiwi homebirth stories.

Many women/wāhine find immersion in warm water particularly soothing during labour and Kāpiti Midwives have birthing pools available for our clients to use. The pools are easy to inflate and come with a fresh liner for each family, a box of filling and emptying hoses and a pump to inflate and deflate the pool. We recommend the person responsible for setting up the pool and filling it get familiar with the process and have a practice at inflating it.

A Birth Kete (Basket) Suggestions

• Food/Kai and drinks to provide energy during the labour and celebration for after!
• Old towels and a way to warm them up (Dryer, heated towel rail)
• Drop cloth, picnic blanket, shower curtain tarp, birth mat etc to protect the floor
• Disposable incontinence sheets (puppy pads are great) for protecting carpet, bed
• Warm soft blankets for Māmā and pepi and a warm room
• Baby/pēpi clothes & nappies
• A dressing gown warm robe
• Wheat packs and/or hot water bottle
• Maternity pads or we recommend disposable adult incontinence underwear (supermarket).
• Rescue remedy, Arnica, essential oils, or any aromatherapy remedies you may want.
• Consider hiring a TENS machine.
• Candles, music, images etc
• A large bowl or bucket (some women vomit in labour)
• A mirror
• Camera
• Ipu Whenua (container) for placenta and Muka tie if you’re using one. (Your Kāpiti midwife may have one of these for you to tie Pepi’s umbilical cord)
• Whatever will help you stay relaxed – music, lighting, good people.
• An extra person dedicated to caring for older tamariki/children if you have them.
• Have a look at Homebirth Aotearoa’s website for more ideas

The Paraparaumu Maternity Unit is a safe place to give birth for women with healthy pregnancies. Statistics collected by the unit over the past ten years show that women who plan to birth there have higher rates of normal births and lower rates of caesarean section, forceps and ventouse births while achieving the same great outcomes for babies as those choosing to birth in hospital. Women also report a high level of satisfaction with their birth experience in the calm atmosphere of the Maternity Unit.

The Maternity Unit, built in 2003 as part of the Kāpiti Health Centre, has one labour/birth room and two postnatal rooms. The unit is staffed 24 hours a day by a Te Whatu Ora employed midwife, who provides birth backup for your midwife, as well as in-house postnatal care with support for beginning breastfeeding. Once established in active labour at home, your Kāpiti midwife, will guide you with respect to an appropriate time to transfer to the maternity unit, accompanied by your support people.

Your midwife will have informed the unit staff of your impending arrival and will accompany you to (or meet you at) the maternity unit. Click on the thumbnail below to see a virtual tour of our unit.

Visiting hours are 11am – 6.30pm. Support people – partners, siblings and whanau may visit when convenient. Please note there are no available facilities for overnight stays for support people.

Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley suggest that well hāpu people with normal healthy pregnancies are encouraged to consider having their babies at Kenepuru and Paraparaumu Maternity primary birthing units. Kāpiti Midwives supports this view in that we strongly recommend that our well clients with normal pregnancies birth either at the Paraparaumu Maternity Unit or home.

We do understand the importance of wahine feeling secure and relaxed in labour so place of birth options will be discussed with your midwife who will support you and your whanau to make a plan that you’re comfortable with.

Wellington Regional Hospital is a tertiary level facility, meaning it has specialist staff for caring for unwell mothers and babies from around the lower North Island and Nelson. The Hospital is also the only birthing facility for women in Wellington City and provides rooms for well women and babies alongside those requiring tertiary care.

The Hospital has 12 self-contained, fully equipped labour and birthing suites. Each birthing suite has its own pool or bath. All birthing suites have ensuite bathrooms and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is located nearby.

Click on the thumbnail below to see a virtual tour of the birthing suite.

Click here to find out more about the Wellington Maternity Unit, and to see how to access the hospital.