Today, on International Day of the Midwife (May 5), midwives share what it’s like working through a pandemic. As you read this new lives will be delivered into the world. Not just new babies, but new parents too. For those women birthing, this might be the most powerful and strong, scared and overwhelmed, vulnerable and … Read more
Being a new parent is scary and overwhelming and you can forget that it’s also full of happiness. Simon Day shares the moments of joy that have pulled him through the first eight weeks of being a new dad to twins. It’s 3:36am and I’ve just fed, changed, burped, and put my twin boys back … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Strong public support for midwife petition, Waipareira Trust defends massive Tamihere campaign donation, and most of the bodies on Whakaari now found. A petition for community midwives to get better funding and pay has absolutely taken off. Radio NZ reports the petition, which is hosted on the … Read more
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded. *All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved Newsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt to ‘uplift’ a newborn baby at a Hawke’s Bay maternity ward has alarmed … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Midwives vote for two weeks of strike action, tourism strategy released by government, and a big day of democracy is coming up in the USA. More than 1000 midwives employed by DHBs have voted to go on strike. Radio NZ reports the members of midwives union MERES voted … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: The government has partly made up its mind on the mega–prison, Māori wards fall short in regional votes, and midwives say the budget boost was too little, too late. The government has made a decision to not expand Wakeria Prison into a so–called mega–prison, but is … Read more
Calls for adequate funding for New Zealand’s midwives have led to discussions about how best to support pregnant people and their whānau through birth and beyond. Hinerangi Rhind-Wiri from Māori public health organisation Hāpai Te Hauora asks if we are considering the distinct and important needs of Māori midwives and whānau alike. Midwives’ call to action for pay … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Greens urged to bail out of waka–jumping bill, midwives go marching, and governance weirdness at Canterbury DHB comes to light. Submissions have continued on the controversial waka-jumping bill, with huge opposition to the proposal. The bill would mean a party would have the right to remove and … Read more
Midwives around New Zealand marched today, protesting pay rates and working conditions across the industry. Don Rowe joined the march up Auckland’s main street. New Zealand midwives and their supporters marched in cities around the country today, calling for urgent adjustments to what they say is an outrageously low pay scale, which can in some … Read more
In the third piece in our series on the midwifery crisis in New Zealand, Kimberley Davis writes about how – and how much – midwives are paid. We are often told that we’re lucky to have the midwifery-led maternity-care system we do here in Aotearoa, and indeed we are. It’s unique and it’s the envy … Read more
As part of our series on the midwifery crisis, The Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes asked midwives to share what’s gone wrong, and how they believe the crisis can be solved. It’s coming up to a year since I interviewed dozens of midwives about their experiences working in one of the toughest, most under-paid and … Read more
In the first in our series on the midwifery crisis in New Zealand, Kimberley Davis writes about what it is a midwife does, and why midwives need higher wages and safer working conditions. You might have noticed there’s been a bit of a public fuss lately over the working and pay conditions of Aotearoa’s midwives. … Read more
Angela Cuming gave birth to twins in Northern Ireland, under the British National Health Service. She reflects on the difference of care she received there compared to her oldest child’s birth in New Zealand. When my identical twin boys were born via c-section the doctors had me walk, crying and in pain, into the operating … Read more
On Monday we published a piece in which midwives spoke out. They talked about how exhausted they are, how they’re underpaid and overworked and underappreciated. Today we share the responses we received from politicians, and from NZ’s main midwives organisation. Following Monday’s story, we heard again and again from readers who were shocked by the … Read more
New Zealand’s midwife shortage has been in the news a lot in the past week – but the working conditions of midwives has been an issue for much, much longer. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes asked midwives to talk about why they do the vital work that they do. It’s a job few would sign … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes interviews a midwife and unwittingly reveals plenty of baggage from her own labour – mainly focused on how much she pooped. This is the fourth in a series of posts in which I ask health professionals questions about child health, crowd-sourced from you. Today’s interviewee is a lovely midwife who is remaining … Read more
A major University of Otago study suggests poorer outcomes for babies born under midwife-led care. Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw looks at the truth behind the headlines. In this article we are going to talk about some of the bad stuff that happens during pregnancy and labour to babies and women. These things are infrequent in New … Read more