Learning Cook Island Birthing Traditions
Clip: 9/17/2026 | 2m 33sVideo has Closed Captions
Ioana Turia, competitive paddler and free diver, shares her birth journey in Rarotonga.
Ioana Turia, competitive paddler and free diver from the Cook Island, shares that there's a lack of choice and resources for culturally traditional birthing practices. Nonetheless, had a positive birth experience being able to be surrounded by her family.
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Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Learning Cook Island Birthing Traditions
Clip: 9/17/2026 | 2m 33sVideo has Closed Captions
Ioana Turia, competitive paddler and free diver from the Cook Island, shares that there's a lack of choice and resources for culturally traditional birthing practices. Nonetheless, had a positive birth experience being able to be surrounded by her family.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSACHIKO: I've also been in touch with Ioana, another ocean woman, to find out about her birth journey in Cook Islands.
♪ ♪ IOANA: That's so cool that you could give birth in the water except that it's not possible here so we would have to travel to New Zealand.
SACHIKO: So there's really no way to give birth at home or in the water in Cook Island?
IOANA: No.
JOHNNY: Yeah, I mean not, not by choice.
IOANA: Yeah.
JOHNNY: Yeah.
IOANA: So, we just we gave birth in the, in the hospital here.
Throughout your pregnancy, there are different nurses in the clinic that you see for your checkups and when you go to give birth, it's whoever the midwives are on duty that you get.
I was fortunate enough to meet the midwives that I ended up with on the night the week before, because I had false labor contractions and they also knew my family.
And I think that made me feel more comfortable.
(background chatters).
(cheers).
SACHIKO: Ioana tells me that family is everything to her as a Pacific Islander and her community is part of her family.
IOANA: I think I had a very positive birthing experience because I was surrounded by people that I love.
(indistinct chatter).
In the birthing room, I had John, my mom, and my paddling coach.
John promised her that he was going to tell her as soon as we went up to the hospital.
She's a very motivating person.
(laughs).
The call for picking up the pace and catching a wave is push, push, push.
So when the midwife would say, "Okay, you can push now."
She'd be like, "Push, Ana!
Push!
Push, push!"
And like, for a second, I just got you know, it's like I transported back to being in the vaka.
JOHNNY: To be there for the moment when Maiata first came into the world.
You know, it was one of the most special experiences of my life.
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Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts.