Women Still Opt for Home Births

Despite physician disapproval women are still opting for home births: Women Opt for Home Birth Despite Doc Disapproval

Home births in the U.S. climbed by 20% between 2004 and 2008, in spite of policies against the practice espoused by major professional societies, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

This is still small % of births 0.67% and is not evenly spread through the ethnic mix (most of the increase is from non-Hispanic white women). THe highest instance in Montana (I wonder if distance to care facility might be a contributory factor)

What is interesting is the risk profile. Risk in home births declined over the same period by 16%(7.1% to 6%) and:

“By comparison, the percentage of preterm infants for hospital births was 12.4% in 2008,”

The message – in the right circumstances home births attended by a midwife (in the interest’s of full disclosure my wife is a midwife) have very low rates of perinatal deaths

The results regarding risk profile dovetail with findings from a 2009 Canadian study that planned home births attended by registered midwives were associated with a very low rate of perinatal death.

None of my children were born at home and that was a deliberate choice but for those that do want to I think that despite the negative perception and views especially of the medical profession, there is a place for this as a relatively safe delivery