Despite negative connotations, home births are making a dramatic comeback in the United States. While it is still not necessarily popular to give birth at home, since 2004 % more American women are choosing to abandon traditional hospital births for the comfort of their own homes.
There is not a clear reason for the increase, but some speculate that women are delivering at home in order to remove themselves from hospital procedures such as C-sections. Medical interventions have increased in hospital births the past several years, concerning some women and hospital-birth critics.
Those who birth from home begin planning for the big day well in advance. Finding a midwife or doctor who the mother feels comfortable with is the first step; it is also important to decide what spaces in the home would be most conducive to birthing needs.
Experts suggest that healthy low-risk pregnant women are the best candidates for delivering outside of the hospital. Home birth may not be for those who are diabetic, have high blood pressure or have given premature birth in the past or are at risk of doing so now. Home births are most successful when the partner is in complete support of the birthing decision.