home birth study

gracias to carrie for pointing this one out to me. a month ago a new study was released in canada, research carried out by a group of MDs and PhDs, that looked at:

2889 cases of planned homebirth with a registered midwife
4752 cases of planned hospital birth with registered midwives
5331 cases of planned hospital birth with physicians attending

all in british columbia between 2000-2004. women in all three groups met the same parameters-- were all low risk enough that home birth was an option for all.

perinatal mortality rates for 1 in 1000 births (baby dying at birth or in the first several days following) were as follows:

.35 in the homebirth group
.57 in the hospital birth with midwife group
.64 in the hospital birth with physician group

other adverse outcomes (to maternal and neonatal health) were better in the homebirth group vs. the hospital groups, too, but i'll spare you the statistics.

for those of us who choose homebirth, the first reaction of many family and friends is "why would you put yourself/your baby at risk?" it's always an irony to those who have done a lot of reading on this subject because study after study shows that homebirth is always as safe, if not safter, than hospital birth. time after time. yet the cultural perspective of "danger, danger" prevails. it's not unusual to think that a dr. could provide better care than a midwife simply because their education is more extensive. but the U.S. has one of the very highest maternal and neonatal mortality rates out of all industrial countries in the world, even though we are hands down the most medically interventive when it comes to birth. with mothers and babies dying at such a high rate, it's obvious to me that in the case of childbirth, more is not better. thank god the technology exists for those who need it, but for those with low risk, normal pregnancies, turning oneself into the surgeon's bag of tricks seems overly risky for both moms and babies. i only wish more american women were aware of the experiences of countries like japan, new zealand, the netherlands, and others, who traded O.B. and hospital-dominated birthing for midwife-attended births (leaving hospitals and OBs for those who truly need to transfer into their care). in those instances, perinantal, neonatal, and maternal mortality rates plummeted. when women and babies are healthier, isn't that the true test?