If you want a better birth experience, you may want to stay out of the hospital. Women are becoming increasingly disenchanted with their hospital birth experiences for a number of reasons.

With insurance companies forcing hospitals to herd patients in and out as quickly as possible, many women report their birth experience feels rushed, impersonal and sanitized.

The documentary “Business of Being Born,” produced by Rikki Lake, explores the home birth experience from the vantage point of expectant moms, dads, and midwives. If you are planning a family, I strongly encourage you to watch.

Home births in the US have been on the rise for the past 10 years, increasing from 1.26 percent of births in 2011 to 1.36 percent in 2012.¹,² This article addresses the pros and cons of home birthing versus hospital birthing, and other important factors to consider before deciding on a birth plan.

Massive Study Finds Home Births Safe for Low-Risk Pregnancies

The largest study ever performed on home births was published in 2014 in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health³ and involved almost 17,000 cases. The study overwhelmingly confirmed across-the-board health benefits for low-risk mothers choosing to give birth at home with a midwife.

Of particular note is a Cesarean rate of 5.2 percent, compared to the national average of 31 percent for full-term pregnancies. The data also included women who transferred to the hospital during a planned home birth, resolving a common concern about home birth data’s not including complicated births.

The vast majority of studies over the past 15 years have shown that attended planned home births are safer than hospital births for low-risk pregnancies. Professional midwives are actually very well trained and prepared to handle medical emergencies, which happen less often than the media would have you believe.

The few studies deeming home births less safe included high-risk births in the mix—preterm deliveries, breech deliveries, unattended home births, etc. When those high-risk cases are filtered out of the data, home births are found to be safer than hospital births.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvljyvU_ZGE