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Otaki Birthing Centre - He Whare Kohanga Ora

Abstract:

The Otaki Birthing Centre is a very small, midwife owned and operated public primary birthing facility in a small rural town. It is probably the smallest of the three midwife owned and managed birthing facilities in New Zealand. Funded for between 20 – 30 births annually, it provides a facility for labour, birth, assessment of women, antenatal education and midwife ‘gatherings’. Birthing families go home when ready after the birth, commonly 2 to 4 hours postpartum. The centre is not funded to provide midwifery care – the contract is purely for the provision and management of the facility. The woman’s lead maternity carer (LMC) provides the midwifery care within the facility and the follow-up at home. As LMCs we also have our own clients who elect to birth in other facilities or at home. In keeping with the principles of informed choice we try very hard not to influence women’s decisions regarding birth–place. We acknowledge that there is difficulty in presenting unbiased information when one is committed and enthusiastic about a particular course of action.

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effect of environment on progress, historic practice, primary birthing facility, relaxed environment, rural birthing unit