Labour and Birth

Labour and birth care for low risk women is provided at home and at the Bethlehem Birthing Unit. Birth care for all women is provided at Tauranga Hospital.

Women’s bodies are designed to birth their babies, but however you give birth, a healthy mum and baby equals successful birth

Birth preferences

At around 31 weeks we go through your birth preferences and you make choices regarding your birth and where you would like to be. We talk about many scenarios because birth is never just black and white. Like the baby being born sometimes the journey takes some twists and turns. I don’t want any woman in my care to be uneducated or feel disempowered while she births her baby, so we explore possibilities and discuss them together.

Labour care

I almost always see clients in their homes in early labour. This reduces unnecessary travel for the woman. It is illegal to move animals when they are labouring and so why would we move a woman unnecessarily? The natural flow of labour hormones can be disrupted by travel, bright lights and switching on our ‘thinking’ brain. A woman should feel warm, safe and secure, in her own space to encourage the labour process to flow and gain momentum. This promotes good outcomes. Once a woman is in good established labour we either stay and home birth (for well low risk women) or we transition to the birth facility and nest there.

Pain relief options

• Heat and massage
• Water
• Hypnobirthing
• TENS
• Entonox
• Morphine
• Epidural

All of the above are pain relief options. At home and the birthing unit heat, massage, water, hypnobirthing, TENS and entonox (gas) can be used. Only at the hospital can morphine and epidurals be given. Pethidine, an older opioid drug, is no longer used.

Epidural care

If you require an epidural this is usually after we have been together for a long time. I stay and support women who choose epidurals however I may ask another midwife to take over care if I am very tired as I feel it is important to be vigilant with care and being tired can impact that. If I do ask a second midwife to complete the birth I come back the next day and carry on care as normal into the postnatal period. It is worth noting that Epidurals are not always possible so we explore all pain relief options at our birth preference appointment.