Leanna, those are good questions. I know that to our modern way of thinking homebirth may seem counter-intuitive, but in my opinion, the facts bear out the truth. There is so much out there to support the legitimacy and benefits of homebirth. I'll just give a brief overview of why we have chosen homebirth for our future children.
As an aside, I think it is important to say that it is of the utmost importance for a woman to be flexible in her birthing plans. Women with high risk pregnancies should not deliver at home (and midwives won't do it). If a baby is breach, it may be a reason to decided to go to the hospital as a precaution. If the labor is simply too long and not progressing and it's just becoming unbearable, perhaps it would be better to move to the hospital. A woman should plan and prepare herself for the birth that she wants, but she also needs to realize that some things are out of her control and recognize that in some cases, the hospital environment will be in the best interest of her and her baby.
As far as the facts go:
*In the 20's birth started moving into the hospitals, and the death rate actually rose. Since that time a lot of things have contributed to safer birth - but it's not the hospital. Things like antibiotics, better nutrition and living conditions, blood transfusions, and child spacing had a large effect on greater safety in birth.
*There are 27 countries with lower infant death rates than ours. The countries that surpass us have high percentage of homebirth/nonintervention birth.
*No study has ever shown that homebirths result in worse outcomes than hospital provided that women had planned the birth at home and had been screened for risk factors. Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States.
*Joseph C. Pearce states in his landmark book Evolution's End that homebirthed babies have a six to one better chance of survival than a hospital-birthed child.
*A study in the Netherlands done in 1986 on women who were having their first babies showed these results: out of 41,861 women who delivered in the hospital, the perinatal mortality rate was 20.2/1,000. Of 15,031 women who delivered at home with a trained midwife, the rate was 1.5/1,000 .
*Marsden Wagner, formerly of the World Health Organization, states that every country in the European Region that has infant mortality rates better than the US uses midwives as the principal and only attendant for at least 70% of the births. He also states that the countries with the lowest perinatal mortality rates in the world have cesarean section rates below 10%.
*A researcher from the University of Copenhagen, recently examined several studies of planned homebirth backed up by a modern hospital system compared with planned hospital birth. A total of nearly 25,000 births from five different countries were studied. There was no difference in survival rates between the babies born at home and those born in the hospital. However, there were several significant differences between the two groups. Fewer medical interventions occurred in the homebirth group. Fewer home-born babies were born in poor condition. The homebirth mothers were less likely to have suffered lacerations during birth. They were less likely to have had their labors induced or augmented by medications or to have had cesarean sections, forceps or vacuum extractor deliveries. As for maternal deaths, there were none in either group.
*Lewis Mehl did a study comparing home and hospital birth with mothers from California and Wisconsin with matched populations of 2,092 mothers for each group. Midwives and family doctors attended the homebirths; OB-GYNs and family doctors attended hospital births. Within the hospital group, the fetal distress rate was 6 times higher. Maternal hemorrhage was 3 times higher. Limp, unresponsive newborns arrived 3 times more often. Neonatal infections were 4 times as common. There were 30 permanent birth injuries caused by doctors.
*Dr. Mehl did another study comparing 1,046 home births with 1,046 hospital births. The groups were matched for age, risk factors, etc. There was no difference in infant mortality. None! However the hospital births caused more fetal distress, lacerations to the mother, neonatal infections and so on. There was a higher rate of forceps and C-section delivery and nine times as many episiotomies.
*(from: Home versus hospital deliveries: follow up study of matched pairs for procedures and outcome)
Neonatal Outcomes:
In the hospital, 3.7 times as many babies required resuscitation.
Infection rates of newborns were 4 times higher in the hospital.
There was 2.5 times as many cases of meconium aspiration pneumonia in the hospital group.
There were 6 cases of neonatal lungwater syndrome in the hospital and none at home.
There were 30 birth injuries (mostly due to forceps) in the hospital group, and none at home.
The incidence of respiratory distress among newborns was 17 times greater in the hospital than in the home.
While neonatal and perinatal death rates were statistically the same for both groups, Apgar scores (a measure of physical well being of the newborn) were significantly worse in the hospital.
Many hospital interventions actually
cause further complications. So many people think, "Oh thank God she was in the hospital so she could have that c-section" when in actuality the c-section became a necessity because of a previous intervention such as an epi or induction. We think that hosptals save us from all these horrible things, when in reality a lot of times they cause one problem and then have to fix it with another invasive procedure.
I am a strong believer in the power and natural workings of our bodies. God created us so marvelously. He created our bodies to work. Women have been giving birth naturally in the attendance of women for 1,000's of years. Our modern society has come to rely so much on technology. We believe that our doctors hold all the answers and have made us safe when that is so far from the truth. I am not saying that there are not good doctors out there. There are doctors who are concerned about the overall well-being of their patients and who are aware of the detrimental affects of hospital interventions.
I think it really just comes down to personal preference. It is a proven fact that homebirth is safe. We have chosen homebirth because it is person centered and provides much more emotional and physical comfort than a hospital. I huge factor in the outcome of a birth is a woman's ability to relax. I know that I would not feel comfortable in a hospital. I do not want to be in a foreign and sterile environment. I want to be someplace familiar and safe - a place I can naturally relax in with people that will care for me (not just my body) and comfort me. I want to be someplace where I am free to walk around, eat, drink sit in a tub, do whatever I feel like doing to help me progress.
I can understand that a lot of women just feel safer in a hospital, and I think that is fine. I just think it is important to know the truth and to be confident and comfortable with your decision.
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/archive/7068pr4.htm
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/330/7505/1416
http://www.ub2b.com/AtHome/HomeBirth.html
http://www.gentlebirth.org/ronnie/homesafe.html
And from books:
The Thinking Woman's Guide To A Better Birth
Ina May's Guide To Childbirth
Monther's Intention: How Belief Shapes Birth
The website reccoemnds starting it around week 28, but I think we may start around week 20, just because the class is a good 45 minutes away, and I dont want to be driving to it whne I have a gigantic redy to pop belly.
Sure, a majority of babies are born vaginally with no complications. But what about the minority? This is no small minority. It seems like a risky game to play with baby and mother's life. Example: A couple days ago a baby was born to a member of my church and that baby had inhaled his meconium and couldn't breathe. They had to pump his lungs and he is still in intensive care. What would have happened to that baby had he been born at home? He couldn't breathe, would he have died? What about the member of CF whose baby had low blood sugar and needed intensive care too? How would a homebirth have dealt with that? I would never forgive myself if something happened to my baby and I could have given him a better change at survival. So I am simply pointing that out.... how can I not? 
