Childbirth at Home on the Rise

Long before she was even pregnant, Deedee Williams knew she wanted give birth at home. So when she and her husband Dave were expecting their first, all she had to do was convince Dave.

"He was apprehensive at first," said Deedee, who lives with her family in Memphis, Tenn. "Then he did some research about the pros and cons of home and hospital births, and he thought delivering at home had some very measurable pluses."

A team of three midwives, one of whom would go on to deliver all three of the Williams children, decided that Deedee, then 30, was a healthy candidate for a home birth. And on a March morning at 5 a.m., the Williams' welcomed their daughter Lily into the very room that would be her nursery.

"I had the room all decorated with a Laura Ashley children's seashore border up around the top of the walls," said Deedee, who said she grew nostalgic just thinking about the decor. "That was really sweet."

Dave cut the cord, and, surrounded by family and friends, the Williamses settled into parenthood.

New research suggests more women are opting to deliver at home. Using birth certificate data, researchers from the National Center for Health Statistics report they saw a 20 percent rise in home births between 2004 and 2008.

"I think there's a variety of reasons for the increase," said Marian MacDorman, a statistician and lead author of the report published today in the journal Birth. "The desire for a low-intervention birth in a familiar environment surrounded by family and friends, lack of transportation in rural areas, and cost factors could all factor in."

The total cost for a home birth, MacDorman said, is roughly one-third the cost of a hospital birth. So for women who don't have insurance, delivering at home is cheaper. On the other hand, not all insurers cover home births.

Read the rest of the story here: at ABCNews.com.

~The midwives at Birth Works serve the entire Central Arkansas region, including Cabot, Searcy, and Conway.  Contact us at 663-2850 to let us help you plan your perfect home birth.~

Photo courtesy of Louisa Stokes.