Events
Connecting the community – if you don’t know it is happening, you won’t be able to be there!
Events in the Hutt
This calendar shows all public Oxytocin Trust events and all of the birth community events that we’ve been advised about. If you would like your event in the Hutt Valley to be added, please submit the details (for free/no charge) here.
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As another year draws to a close, we take time to reflect on 2025 and to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supports our birthing community.To our volunteers and sponsors, we extend our deepest gratitude for the ways you stand behind and uplift our mahi. Your generosity and support make our work possible, and we could not do this without you.To the midwives, maternity staff, and all those working across the perinatal space in Te Awa Kairangai/the Hutt Valley, your dedication and care do not go unnoticed. Our community is greatly appreciative of the commitment you show every day. The difference you make for whānau is immeasurable, and we sincerely acknowledge and thank you for all that you do.We celebrate all that has been achieved in 2025 and we look forward to the possibilities the new year may bring. We wish everyone a safe and gentle New Year.Arohanui Jacqui, Meg, Megan, Murphy & Vida Oxytocin Trust Trustees
Did you know?Midwifery students have up to 4 years of intense study before practising as a Registered Midwife. They spend a minimum of 2400 hours of clinical work caring for whānau in an UNPAID capacity. Bachelor of Midwifery degree demands are high, making it hard to fit in other paid work to cover living and studying costs. Much of their final year is spent providing 24 hour on-call cover alongside their midwifery mentor.On completing their degree, they are required to pay exam fees as well as professional registration and annual practising certificate fees. Self-employed LMC midwives have additional business, clinical equipment set up, compulsory training and professional subscription costs too. We estimate an average setting up cost of $4000. Student loan repayments begin too. The limited funding available only covers a fraction of these costs. We hear from new midwives that are struggling to pay for the costs of setting up, but also can't practise as a midwife until these costs have been paid. LMC midwives have to build up a caseload of clients over time and can only claim minimal amounts for the first months until their clients are due to birth.There is such a shortage of midwives practising We want to provide funding towards these costs to encourage and support more midwives to work in our community. Please join us in giving new midwives a warm welcome and strong start to their midwifery career in the Hutt.Read how community donors helped us help Local graduate midwife Chloe get started serving our community. Can you help us give this support again this year to a new group of graduates?https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/supporting-newgrad-lmcmidwives-hutt-2025-2026
This Friday we have one of our quarterly newborn baby pack sessions where we sort and pack donated items for newborns in need at Hutt Hospital. An email has gone out to all the baby packing volunteers registered on our infoodle database. If you are interested in receiving these emails please check out our site https://oxytocintrust.org.nz/newborn-baby-packs/ or dm us here.We are always in need of items to fill these packs so if you have some handmedowns sitting in the boot of the car you’ve forgotten to drop off to a clothing bin (iykyk 😂) give us a shout and we will take them off your hands!
We are looking for suggestions of places to put our breast milk donation posters - places where breastfeeders might see them! Let us know in the comments if you have somewhere that could be a good place to get the word out. If you'd be happy to do a small postering mission - putting up posters in 3 to 5 Hutt Valley locations for us, please also sing out!
Please have a read of our recently updated Strategic Plan. If any of these areas of focus resonate with you, please consider volunteering with us! Roles available range from baking once a month for maternity staff, coming on board as a trustee, helping with quarterly baby packing sessions, or working on a couple of grant applications a year. There's a role for all levels of time and skills - all that is needed is a desire to improve conditions for birthing whānau in the Hutt!https://oxytocintrust.org.nz/volunteer/
We are lucky to meet a lot of kind and generous people in our mahi, the kind of people who sacrifice their own time and energy to help others and make change. One of these people is Nicky, a fantastic baker, who has donated her gorgeous baking to Hutt Maternity staff on our behalf.Nicky now needs the support of her community as she and her whānau tackle breast cancer. If you are able, please spread the love to Nicky and her loved ones via this Give a Little page created by some friends: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/show-up-for-nicky?fbclid=IwY2xjawM8U3RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHi1G3yGEvvYWd4n2iOf51bTF4wDnpOkI_49E6ULZ8xIvhjMAhOML30HfUOdh_aem_PEf4YdsbY8prMqWX40q_Gw
Have you heard about the shortage of Lead Maternity Career Midwives in the Hutt Valley? Perhaps you've been someone who struggled to find a midwife to support you during your pregnancy and birth? Here is a way you can provide practical support and aroha to new graduate midwives working in our area.Head to our Give a Little page to learn more or donate, if you can't donate we'd love you to share the campaign: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/supporting-newgrad-lmcmidwives-hutt-2025-2026
Kia ora - below is a pānui from some friends of the Oxytocin Trust about an upcoming film screening that our followers may be interested in!We are excited to invite our communities to be part of something special: a premiere screening of this powerful documentary! Hosted by passionate educators and community advocates who care deeply about health within pregnancy, labour, birth and early parenting. This event will inspire, inform, and connect.The Microbirth Plan is a powerful new documentary about one of the most exciting frontiers in human health, the microbiome. It is a follow-up (from the same film-makers) to a documentary called "Microbirth" that was premiered in Wellington in 2014!Please help us spread the word!When: Sunday 21st September 2025Time: 7pm prompt start (doors open 6:30pm)Where: Pelorus Trust Sports House, 93 Park Road, Gracefield, Lower HuttCost: FREE but you first must register please as limited seatsThe film reveals how the earliest moments of life lay the foundations for our immunity, metabolism, and even mental wellbeing.Through breathtaking science and real human stories, the film shows how small choices and simple actions at birth can have an extraordinary impact, not just for individual families, but potentially, for the future of humanity. This is a story of hope, empowerment, and the possibility of a healthier world, starting with the very first chapter of life.“This isn’t just a documentary film. It’s a global plan to protect the future of our species.” - Filmmakers, Toni Harman & Alex WakefordDoors will open at 6:30 pm, with the documentary commencing promptly at 7:00 pm. Light Refreshments Provided.Seats are limited so get in quick to secure your place, please book through Eventbrite HERE https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-microbirth-plan-documentary-tickets-1654054755299?aff=oddtdtcreator so we can reserve it for you.NB. so we can communicate updates more easily to those attending the event, if you are booking for several people please register them individually (rather than block booking several tickets in your own name). Thank you 🙂Looking forward to seeing you there!Vee Samoa, Heather Cotter and Vida Rye
