“If you don’t know your options, you don’t have any!”
Diana Korte & Roberta M Scaer
(from “A Good Birth, A Safe Birth”)
Your options are to birth at HOME or in HOSPITAL or in a BIRTH CENTRE
but if you don't have a birth centre near where you live, your options are limited!
Why do we need local Birth Centres? Just read these stories from whānau who have experienced birthing in one:

Our only home/hotel-like Birthing Centre in the Wellington Region (and only primary birth space in the Hutt Valley) was closed (moth-balled) on Thursday 23rd September 2021.

It was announced in November 2022 that the Birthing Centre in Te Awa Kairangi/Lower Hutt would be reopening as a Transitional Care Unit in June 2023 for  newborn babies (with their parents) that need special care, which is a positive outcome for those whānau that need this support. 

There was a discussion that there may be 2 rooms available for birthing at the transitional care unit, but no word since then, and there is no sign of a transitional unit opening any time soon.  Meanwhile Te Whatu Ora have taken on the lease for the ex-birthing centre and it lies empty.
​Meanwhile we are in the early stages of talking about a community owned and led Birth House/Whare Kōwhanga at Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae. We are delighted with that Te Ati Awa have gifted us the working name of "Wairua" for this mahi - Te Ati Awa shared their joy in this project about having a birth centre at the headwaters of their awa.  We are currently developing the narrative alongside them, and we look forward to exploring how partnerships with Te Ati Awa and Wesley Community Action may develop.
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Birth House/Whare Kōwhanga at Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae - if you are interested in how the community discussions evolve about this possibility, and/or would like to offer your ideas and/or action and/or funds to help support the project, please register your interest and we'll be in touch to let you know what is happening, when anything is happening!