New research suggests that home births with the help of a registered midwife are as safe as deliveries in hospitals, The Los Angeles Times reports.
The Canadian study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, compared home births attended by midwives, hospital deliveries by midwives and deliveries by physicians in hospitals, all in British Columbia. Among the three groups, the newborn death rate (less than 1 percent) was about the same. (There was one death in the home birth group; three in the hospital midwife group; and three in the doctor group.)
The study also suggests that women who planned a home birth were less likely to experience a postpartum hemorrhage. Plus, their babies were less likely to suffer a birth trauma or require resuscitation at birth or oxygen therapy.
http://www.fitpregnancy.com/blog/news/Study-Planned-Home-Births-OK-56670127.html