About Labour and Love

Why water, why home

That's my second son in the photo — just minutes old, in the water at home. My first birth taught me what I didn't want; my second was the redemption birth I knew I needed to heal, and I prepared for it with everything I had. When labour started, around 11pm, I felt nothing but excited. I laboured through the night in my own space and my own time — my midwife quietly on the couch, letting me do my thing because she could see everything was unfolding exactly as it should, my partner beside me, no one rushing the moment. Unmedicated and undisturbed, birthing in water felt like the most natural thing in the world: warm, quiet, and completely mine. By 8 in the morning he was here, and I lifted him to my chest in that pool — the experience I'd needed, and a feeling I'll spend the rest of my life trying to help other women reach.

Because in New Zealand, hiring a pool for a home birth is far harder than it should be — the logistics, the cost, the not knowing where to start. That's where Labour and Love began. We deliver the pool to your door, clean and ready, with everything you need and real support from setup right through to birth — so any māmā who wants to labour or birth in water can.

The journal

The postpartum journal is the piece of Labour and Love closest to my heart. After my own births I looked around and saw shelves of books for baby and almost nothing for her — the woman who'd just given everything to bring them here. So I made the thing I wished I'd had: a quiet space that belongs only to the mother. Room to pour out the birth while it's still fresh, to notice how she's healing, to hold onto the small moments before they blur, and to be reminded, on the hard days, that she matters too. It's a simple little book, but I hope it feels like being seen.