Mihimihi

Karakia

Hoatu te mana
ki a ratou kua tae mai nei ki tenei whenua
kua wheturangitia i te korowai o Ranginui,
kua hangaia i tenei tikanga hoki.
~
Give credit and recognition
to those who came to this land,
to those who have departed and are adorned
as stars in the heavens,
to those who built this tikanga also.

Who is Home Birth Aotearoa?

Home Birth Aotearoa is the national
collective of regional home birth groups
throughout Aotearoa

We are a creative force
Our mountain is the rise of woman’s belly, swelling with life
Our ocean, the tides of labour
Our rivers flow in birth waters, teardrops, blood and milk
Our vessel is the womb
We claim kinship with the midwife,
as she exists in all women
Our ties in the cord
bonding us above, below
and beside one another
In the making of all Mothers
We are Home Birth Aotearoa

Our Taonga

Birth

We see conception, pregnancy, birth, and the making of families as valuable life events to be treasured, as taonga for us all.

Home Birth Community

Some of our most precious taonga, or treasures, are our pēpe and whānau who connect through, and maintain our regional home birth groups. The time, space and energy that they invest in support of home birth creates a valuable and positive movement in New Zealand’s birth culture.

The Vessel

Our vessel taonga was sculpted by the home birth women of Whangarei, with the guidance and wisdom of Hana Easton. This sculpture is used at gatherings in what has become a traditional opening and closing ceremony for Home Birth Aotearoa hui.

Our Waiata

The singing of waiata is an important part of the gathering we do together. Our traditionally most loved song is Te Aroha.

Te Aroha
Te Whakapono
Te Rangimarie
Tatou tatou e
~
Love
Hope/Faith
Peace
Be amongst us all!

Our Logo – Past and Present

Our original logo was conceptualised in the year 2000 by Jeannette Lazet, for the Wellington Home Birth Association and was officially drawn from her sketch of an idea by a graphic designer. In 2002, when the Community Birth Services contract for a National Home Birth Coordination Service was first established, the Wellington Home Birth Association gifted the logo design to what was to become, and now is, Home Birth Aotearoa (Trust). From then until mid 2013, the logo for Wellington Home Birth Association and Home Birth Aotearoa was shared.

In mid 2013, the trust engaged a designer, Robin Wisser Kidder, to help us create a brand new logo to represent the organisation. The ‘protected begining’ circle logo was inspired by the founding thoughts of the kowhaiwhai. The layers of the circle represent many aspects of birth and our community. There are layers of protection of the pepe, the mother, the whanau, the community. There is vortex illustrating the past to future. There are waves and surges, ripples of understanding, spirituality and support.

Kowhaiwhai

Our kowhaiwhai, gifted by Karuna Thurlow is a beautiful representation which
expresses, through image, the layers and connections that exist physically and
metaphysically during conception, pregnancy and birth. The curves of the design
represent the life-giving curves of Papatuanuku which are also present in all women.
The circles within the kowhaiwhai patterning represent stages of development of the
pēpe in womb, as well as the circles of the breast, which nurtures the baby once they
are born. The vertical line speaks to the link between the Mother and Father’s heritage,
which culminates at the belly and foetus.

Home Birth Aotearoa Trust

Home Birth Aotearoa Trust

The Home Birth Aotearoa Trust (HBAT) is a charitable trust, formed in 2007 and consists of a board of eight elected trustees who invest in their regional home birth groups as well as in HBA/HBAT. HBAT holds the kaupapa or spirit of the home birth movement in Aotearoa New Zealand by representing the collective interests of New Zealand’s volunteer-led regional home birth support groups and associations.

HBA holds the National Home Birth Coordination Contract with the Ministry of Health and the Trust Board applies this contract by initiating opportunities for regional groups to invest in national level movement – with the aim to create a wider impact for positive promotion of home birth in New Zealand. Regional and national hui are held annually to strengthen bonds, create collective vision and build momentum and strategy towards that vision.

Our tūmanakotanga

• That home is recognised and promoted as an option for for birth, for the majority of NZ women
• To increase the number of New Zealand women choosing to birth at home
• To have a strong and flourishing network of active home birth groups throughout Aotearoa
• To have input into maternity strategy and policy making, to enable empowering birth experiences and healthy, thriving families.
• To implement and uphold Te Tiriti O Waitangi and all its articles within our mahi. To remain committed to genuine partnership with tangata whenua within our mahi and robust reflection upon this commitment on a regular basis.

Our Mahi

We support and celebrate home birth, and provide birthing women and whanau with information about the home birth option.

Home Birth Aotearoa is committed to honouring and upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and tino rangatiratanga for all families and whanau.

The Trust was formed to enable collective accountability and sustainability of a national home birth organisation via a legally recognised entity.

National Hui are convened annually throughout the country, and the trust supports annual pod hui throughout Aotearoa annually

A conference is hosted biennially (every two years) by a regional association

The activities of Home Birth Aotearoa Trust also include at this time, the delivery of the National Home Birth Coordination contract for the Ministry of Health, promoting and coordinating home birth activities at a national level.

To see our Trust Deed document and other important Home Birth documents, visit our resources collection or click here.

Our Trustees

Eva Neely
Wellington

I live with my husband and little daughter in Wellington on the beautiful South Coast. I have a  PhD student in health promotion, and have a passion for enabling people to feel empowered over their lives. Being in control over your physical, mental, and social “me” is essential for an empowered individual and community. While science and medicine have brought us much knowledge, the power and ownership that is awarded to the medical profession overpowers much human wisdom that has preceded. I strongly believe in our innate power to know what is right for us, and desire a more balanced homeostasis of evidence-based medicine and intuition.

Homebirth is the most empowering experience I have ever had. It was so precious to birth my baby in an environment that special and well-known to me and my husband. Putting trust in myself and my body as well as having a positive outlook on my upcoming birth were pivotal in making this decision. I would love for all women have such a positive birth experience, but most importantly, have positive birth expectations. For me joining the HBA Board is one way I can help contribute to empowered women birthing at home, and promote more intuition in birthing.

To me, it doesn’t matter how exactly the birth played out, the health of the mother and baby are all that matter in the end. The importance lies in positive birth expectations, in that an empowered home birthing mama knows she has the ability to birth her baby, while acknowledging that modern medicine provides outstanding services when things don’t go to plan.

I am also a volunteer for the Wellington Home Birth Association, and am happy to be contacted for any local questions, networks, or resources.

Ali Woodhouse
Christchurch

Kia ora and welcome,

My name is Ali and I am grateful to have been elected as one of your new Home Birth Aotearoa Trust (HBAT) members.

I live with my husband Blair, and our children (22, 20, 18 and 6 years old) in the Canterbury region. I am in my final year of midwifery studies and I’m looking forward to being of service to women and their whānau throughout pregnancy, labour and birth, in my role as a community midwife in 2021.

I am actively involved with the Canterbury Home Birth Association; part of my involvement regionally is the day to day management of our social media platforms. My husband, and I are also the custodians of the birthing pools hired by the association.

I am also an active member within the Canterbury region of the New Zealand College of Midwives and sit on two sub-committees for the region; Komiti Kawa Whakaruruhau (a regional committee striving for cultural consciousness, equity and the honouring of Te Tiriti o Waitangi), and the Komiti Rangahau (the regional research committee, the role of this committee includes circulating research proposals to the region and promotes evidence based midwifery practice and guidelines).

As a member of HBAT it is my belief that as a Trust we must protect and promote the right of New Zealand women to make informed decisions about place of birth.

I believe there are a couple of ways in which we can do this:

• dispelling myths and providing evidence-based information for expectant Mama’s and families.
• actively supporting home birthing families through the provision of birth pools;
• through the provision of an active community who interacts via social media platforms and meet ups;
• through actively promoting and supporting home birth midwives, including supporting their bid for financial recognition and an adequate funding model.

I believe that the reciprocal support from the home birthing community towards their midwives also protects the model of care that encompasses the recognition that birthing at home is an option for New Zealand women.

When I am not studying, working on committees or with the trust, you can find me enjoying the company of my family and actively promoting sustainability and animal rights.

The whakatauki included in my mihi above translates to:

“As man disappears from sight, the land remains”

It signals my passion for the environment and the utmost respect of Papatūānuku, the mother of the earth.

Tēnā koutou

Ko Takitimu te Maunga,

Te Waihōpai te awa,

Ko Ngāti Pākehā te iwi,

Nō Murihiku au,

Kei Ōtautahi tōku kāinga ināianei,

Ko Alisha-Jane Woodhouse tōku ingoa

Ko Blair tōku hoa tāne

Ko Timothy rātou ko Corben ko Harrison ko Envy āku tamariki

Kua mate tāku pēpi

Ko Archie tōnā ingoa

Nō reira, kia ora tātou katoa hua huihui mai

He Whakataukī hai kōrero whakamutunga māku

Whatungarongaro te Tangata toitū te whenua

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa

Lala McCarthy
Tauranga

Karen Walker
Taumarunui

Tena Kotou katoa. Ko Ngati Porou oku rua Ngati Toa taku iwi. Mother of 8 tamariki of which 6 were born at home, including twins.
I care that people have choices and it’s been my lived experience that birthing at home has been the most empowering and magnificent life altering option for my birthing.
I have been a mother for 24 years, a midwife for 20 years and a trustee for Homebirth Aotearoa for less than a year.

Kirsty Wilkinson
Canterbury

My names Kirsty Wilkinson, I am mum of 5, wife to one husband and a student midwife. I have had 3 hospital births in my hometown of Dunedin. I moved to Christchurch 5 years ago, inherited a bonus child, and fell pregnant with my 4th baby. My journey to choosing homebirth was one of sheer laziness really. Finding a babysitter for 4 kids to come at short notice (a willing babysitter that is) was a mission with no family here, and parking at Christchurch hospital is a nightmare. Dunedin doesn’t have birth units so that was a new concept to me. After discussing things with my midwife we decided home was the best choice for us! I had an incredible home birth and wanted to scream it from the rooftops, upset that I’d never considered it sooner so I threw myself completely into the local home birth community here in Christchurch, enrolled in midwifery training and after attending an HBAT hui decided to put myself forward to join as a trustee. I’m still a complete novice when it comes to trustee life, but enjoy working for the cause!

To me, it doesn’t matter how exactly the birth played out, the health of the mother and baby are all that matter in the end. The importance lies in positive birth expectations, in that an empowered home birthing mama knows she has the ability to birth her baby, while acknowledging that modern medicine provides outstanding services when things don’t go to plan.

Information on the use of
Te Reo Maori on our website:

Muka – The fibres in the flax used to make twine, often used to tie of the umbilicus in traditional birth.

Mihimihi – a greeting, tribute or thanks.

Mokopuna – grandchildren

Papa-tū-ā-nuku – Earth mother and wife of Rangi-nui. All living things originate from the. She is an mother earth figure who gives many blessings to her children and nourishes all with her body

Pōwhiri – a ritual of encounter, the welcome ceremony performed when entering a marae.

Pounamu – Greenstone or New Zealand jade. A precious stone that has cultural importance, it is green and hard and is often carved. It is valued for its mana and its tapu.

Pēpe – baby

Raranga – the weaving of harakeke

Tangata whenua – people born of the whenua, people of the land, our native peoples.

Taonga – treasure or precious things of significance

Tapu – sacred

Te Ika-a-Māui – The North Island, a fish caught
by demi-god Maui.

Te Reo Maori – the maori language, often re- ferred to as ‘te reo’ – the language. Te reo is historically a spoken language. Reo means voice.

Te Waipounamu – The South Island, originated from Te Wahi Pounamu, the place of the greenstone. Te Waipounamu translates to the waters of precious jade.

Tūmanakotanga – hope, desire, aspiration.

Ukaipo – the mother,a source of sustenance. Often used to describe night time feeding, it is the sound a baby makes as they drink from the breast.

Waiata – song or chant

Wahine whakawhanau – midwife

Waka – canoe

Whāereere/māmā – mother

Whakawhānau – to give birth

Whāngote – breastfeeding

Whenua – The Māori word for land, whenua, also means placenta. All life is seen as being born from the womb of Papatūānuku, under the sea. The lands above, are the placenta from her womb. When the placenta is born it is returned to the land

Whānau – family

Whare – house