Home births what's your opinion?

I had one hospital birth (sounds like your experiences) and two home births, and planning my 3 Rd home birth for July. I loved my home births, it was so relaxed I couldn't believe it. And I didn't hear one negative thing, in the hospital it was always your contractions aren't close enough, your water has been broke 12 hours baby must be born soon, not being allowed up. And finally when the head was almost out the nurse says " I bet you wish you would have taken the epidural now". If your low risk its safe to have a home birth. My midwife has over 30 years experience of birthing babies. And is excellent at spotting problems early to get you to a hospital..they also carry oxygen tanks and emergency equipment. And the little tricks to get labor over faster. Went 4 to 8 cm in 15 minutes just from pouring warm water on my belly. Just little stuff like that. My last baby was 11 lb 10 oz and got very completely stuck, but my midwife easily handled it. I hope I never go to a hospital again.

I hate the traditional western birthing model which is why I went with midwives in a birthing clinic. The midwives honored my request for an all natural non medicated water birth. It was just perfect.

I did not have the baby at home -- the midwife clinic operates out of the hospital. My honest opinion about home births is that they are beautiful and wonderful -- but the data out there is contradictory. Some statistics show that home birth increases the likelihood for death by four times.

Bc I'm in the healthcare field and understand clearly what happens when oxygen deprivation occurs, I didn't birth at home. 30 seconds without O2 mean a lot when you're a new born and I just couldn't chance it. I wanted to have a natural birth but in a hospital "just in case." Luckily there was no just in case.

It sounds like you local hospital is pretty horrific. (I've never heard of women being confined to bed on their backs for 23 hours, or being forced to have meds they didn't want.)

If a different hospital isn't an option for you, then a home birth with a good midwife should definitely be a viable option.

I didn't have a home birth, but opted for a birth center (located in a hopital, but led by a midwife practice independent from the hospital) instead. I did this for a variety of reasons (among which the fact that I live on the fifth floor and would have had to be lowered out of the window if relocation to a hospital would have been necessary) but not because I consider home births unsafe. Home births are the norm where I live, so we have plenty of statistical data showing that a midwife attended home birth - obviously after an uncomplicated pregnancy - is as safe as a hospital birth after an uncomplicated pregnancy. So obviously we (and no, we're not some third world country) hardly consider home births a 'drastic' option.

I have no real comparison because I had both babies in the same birth center, but I do know I like the midwife approach as I experienced it. The midwives actually worked with me instead of trying to make some standard scenario happen, and (like I wanted to) they focused on getting a safe result with as few interventions as possible.

I especially liked my second birth, for which I didn't need an epidural (I did the first time, and even though I would have preferred not to need one I was very glad it was available) because I didn't need to be hooked up to any tubes and monitors, and was free to move around and change position. In the end I gave birth on my side. The difference was huge: first time (pushing on my back) I had extensive tearing of the vaginal walls and labia that took a full hour to stitch back together, the second time two tiny tears that didn't even need stitches.