Place of birth
You and your midwife will have developed a care plan through pregnancy which includes your place of birth. For extra reading on research around the place of birth check out the articles linked below.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1523-536X.2010.00458.x
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(19)30119-1/fulltext
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30063-8/fulltext
https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/5/E80
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25204886/
https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7400
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e016288
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-536X.2012.00531.x
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29436048/
Some of these articles are older, but they have been included for various reasons. In the last linked article, please note the "Comment on the meta-analysis of home vs hospital birth". We have included this comment, as many articles outside of NZ on home birth are based on different systems where home birth is not well integrated into the medical care system, and some even include free-birth (birth without a birth attendant) numbers in their home birth statistics. In NZ, home birth is considered a safe choice for people giving birth, and it is well integrated in our maternity care system for low risk, healthy people.
Domino Midwives support pregnant people to birth at home, Kenepuru Maternity or Wellington Hospital. Home birth and Kenepuru birth are for low risk primary care people. If you have any complications or risk factors in your pregnancy you may need to birth in a tertiary unit.
There is a virtual online tour of both Wellington and Kenepuru Maternity. Please have a look at these and make sure you are familiar with the parking at both.