Autumn 2024 Newsletter
Tēnā koutou! Nau mai, haere mai, welcome to the very first newsletter! We started out as a Facebook group and support meetings under the name Auckland HomeBirth Community in 2014 (it will be our 10 year anniversary in December this year!). At the end of 2022 we registered as a charitable trust and reclaimed the name, Auckland Home Birth Association.
Check out the first newsletter of the first Auckland Home Birth Association here: https://wwat.nz/wp-content/uploads/NewsletterNo1cJulyAugust1978.pdf (courtesy of the Wise Woman Archives Trust). It's fascinating to see how much and how little has changed in the home birthing and maternity space since 1978.
In this newsletter
Prize draw results
Oat Milk birth pool now available to book
Upcoming events
Autumn recipe
Notices
The future of AHBA newsletters
Prize draw results
To celebrate our brand new birth pool, the Oat Milk Professional, we held a prize draw to give away a free hire.
📣 The winner is: Terri S! Congratulations Terri! 🎉
We would have loved to have been able to give a free hire to everyone but unfortunately we're not there yet with our funding. For those not familiar, birth pool hire is our main source of income as we don't yet get any funding from grants.
Read on if you would like to hire the new Oat Milk Professional birth pool!
Oat Milk birth pool now available to book
The Oat Milk Professional birth pool is now available to hire from our West Auckland location. It is similar in size to the La Bassine and Birth Pool In A Box Mini pools.
This can be booked via the website here: https://ahba.org.nz/birth-pool-hire/oat-milk-professional-birth-pool/
If you are unable to access the website, please contact the birth pool coordinator at birthpools@ahba.org.nz to arrange a manual booking.
Upcoming events
Monthly meetings - every second Tuesday of the month
In person central meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of every month, 11am-1pm at Auckland Women's Centre in Grey Lynn. The next meeting is TOMORROW, 12th March and the guest speaker is acupuncturist and midwife, Elaine Rudkin.
Further dates for the rest of Autumn are:
9th April
14th May
Annual General Meeting - April TBC
The exact date and location is still to be confirmed but this will likely be in early April. As always, everyone is welcome and light refreshments will be provided. It's really essential that the trustees get feedback and whakaaro from our community so we know what we should focus on and the sorts of support people need.
International Day of the Midwife - Sunday May 5th
We are in the process of organising a special screening of Born At Home in conjunction with Home Birth Aotearoa and Demand Films. We will release full details once everything is finalised. If you would like to help run this event or think you could host one in South Auckland, please email hello@ahba.org.nz
Other events of interest
These are events not run by AHBA but that may be of interest to the home birth community.
Exploring Holistic and Traditional Birth Practices - Thursday March 14th
"Wānanga with Ruta Lauleva, traditional birth attendant and Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, Takatāpui scholar – supporting diverse whānau in their birthing journeys. Join us for this wānanga where we will share stories and experiences of supporting diverse whānau to experience joy and dignity in their pregnancy and birthing journeys. We will hear from visiting traditional birth attendant Ruta Lauleva (bio below) and Takatāpui scholar Dr Elizabeth Kerekere. Come for the sharing of stories and growing connections. Light lunch provided."
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/2596620660506217/The Big Latch On - Weekend of 12-14 April
"The Big Latch On has been running for 19 years, started by Women’s Health Action in 2005. This is a global event that started right here in New Zealand!The Big Latch On aims to support parents in their communities on their feeding journeys, by creating safe and accepting spaces. It provides an opportunity for parents to connect with and meet new friends, and receive support and information from local services."
More information: http://www.blo.org.nz/La Leche League NZ Conference - Weekend of 19-21 April
This is LLLNZ's 60th anniversary. While the conference itself is taking place outside of Auckland (in Cambridge), Home Birth Aotearoa is going to have a table there and Rose Fisher (AHBA Trustee) is driving down to collaborate with HBA. If anyone would like to help crew the table with Rose for a day, please let Rose know - hello@ahba.org.nz.
Any missed events will be posted on our website and social media so make sure to subscribe or join there so you don't miss out.
If you have any home birth related events, classes or workshops coming up in Winter, please contact newsletter@ahba.org.nz so we can put it in our Winter Newsletter. Note: this is not advertising space. We have a strict no advertising policy, but we welcome events that are relevant to birthing at home. Please provide dates, contact information and/or a link to more information.
Autumn Recipe
'Home Birth Soup' recipe by Rose Fisher
"This is a really easy recipe to make and great to fridge and have as left overs. It also freezes well and I loved making some of this ahead of my births to reheat and have as an easy postpartum lunch or just because I wanted a comforting hot cup of soup to snack on. I've also taken this to many home birth meetings over the years!"
4 large onions
5-8 potatoes, roughly chopped
2C peas
3 Massel Vegetable Stock Cubes (preferably the low salt ones)
1 TBLSP coriander powder
Plenty of pepper
Salt to taste
Oil for frying onions
Water
Stock pot and stick blender
Sautee onions in oil on low-medium heat until well browned.
Note: you can skip this step if in a hurry.Add potatoes, stock cubes, coriander and pepper.
Add enough water to fill two-thirds of the stock pot and bring to boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to low and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
Add peas and cook for a further 10-15 minutes then remove from heat.
Use the stick blender until you have a soup consistency. Add more water if the soup is too thick. Salt to taste.
Serves 6-8
Notices
Pool coordinator
We are still looking for a pool coordinator for North Auckland and South Auckland. Some requirements are:
Safe storage of four birth pools plus liners, accessories and repair kits
Monitoring birth pool hire emails and using the online booking system
Cleaning and repairing pools where needed
Inspecting pools when they are returned
Prepare pools ahead of hire
Pool bookings can vary in frequency from only once a month to multiple in a week. You must be responsible, reliable, have integrity, be able to work independently and use initiative, and be passionate about helping others. There is a small remuneration per pool hire. Training will be provided. Contact birthpools@ahba.org.nz if you would like more information.
Volunteers
As always we are looking for volunteers to help or if you have an idea you would like to see made happen, please let us know! hello@ahba.org.nz
The future of AHBA Newsletters
We would love to grow our newsletters but we can't do it by ourselves! If you would like to be a guest writer, would like to post a birth notice for your baby, have events to share, a recipe to contribute, want to share your home birth story or just have a great idea for the newsletter, please let us know! newsletter@ahba.org.nz
AUCKLAND HOME BIRTH ASSOCIATION
discovering ⋅ empowering ⋅ celebrating
Auckland Home Birth Association is an inclusive, non-profit, volunteer-led community organisation supporting individuals, whānau/families and health providers with support, information, meetings, resources, and birth pool hire.
International evidence shows birth at home is a safe and gentle way to welcome babies, where families can be involved and connected. Home birth – it’s your choice!
www.ahba.org.nz | hello@ahba.org.nz
Auckland Home Birth Association is a registered Charitable Trust, charity no. CC60866
Unless otherwise stated, photos are © Copyright their respective owners and must not be downloaded or distributed. Content on the Auckland Home Birth Association website and newsletter archive is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License.