Home Birth: Stay-at-Home Moms infographic discusses the risks and benefits of the recent home birthing trend.
Why More Women Are Forgoing the Hospital When Baby Comes
Less than 1 percent of babies are born at home, but that number has seen a sharp increase in recent years. Let’s explore the home birthing trend, the risks and benefits, and those involved in helping bring life into the world outside a hospital setting.
State of Birth
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Hospitals are the preferred place of birth for most parents-to-be, but it wasn’t always so.
Home births by year
1900 95%*
1940 44%
1969 1%
2009 0.72%
* Nearly all births took place outside hospitals, so this is an estimate
While home births have dropped overall, they’ve risen in recent years, driven by a natural-birthing trend among white women. Rates have risen by nearly 30% in a short time.
Home births by year
2004 2009
0.56% 0.72%
Home births by ethnicity
White 1 in 90
African-American 1 in 357
Hispanic 1 in 500
Percentage of home births by state (2009)
DC 0.2
Louisiana 0.21
New Jersey 0.25
Alabama 0.26
Mississippi 0.26
Georgia 0.32
Illinois 0.36
Nebraska 0.36
West Virginia 0.37
Rhode Island 0.38
South Carolina 0.4
Connecticut 0.41
Delaware 0.42
Texas 0.42
Massachusetts 0.43
North Carolina 0.45
South Dakota 0.48
North Dakota 0.5
California 0.52
Maryland 0.52
Oklahoma 0.52
Florida 0.54
Tennessee 0.64
Wyoming 0.66
Arizona 0.68
Arkansas 0.69
Virginia 0.69
Michigan 0.72
New York 0.73
Kansas 0.77
Ohio 0.83
Minnesota 0.85
Kentucky 0.9
New Hampshire 1
New Mexico 1.03
Missouri 1.07
Iowa 1.11
Nevada 1.15
Colorado 1.22
Maine 1.31
Hawaii 1.33
Indiana 1.38
Alaska 1.49
Utah 1.55
Pennsylvania 1.62
Wisconsin 1.66
Washington 1.67
Idaho 1.69
Vermont 1.91
Oregon 1.96
Montana 2.55
Not Going It Alone
Most women have help during the birthing process, even if they give birth outside a traditional medical setting.
Certified nurse-midwife
A person who has completed traditional nursing school and then gone on to complete midwifery training.
Certified professional midwife
A person with training in midwifery who is not a nurse.
Doula
Someone trained to assist emotionally during childbirth but not medically trained.
Home births by type of attendant
Physician 4.8%
Certified nurse-midwife 19.5%
Other midwives 42.9
Other attendants 32.9%
Related:
- How Do I Become a Certified Nurse Midwife?
- Top 25 Online Nurse-Midwifery Programs
- 10 Reasons to Be A Nurse Midwife
- How do I become a Pediatric Nurse?
- Top 25 Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Programs
- How Do I Become a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner?
- 25 Most Affordable Online MSN Programs
- 50 Books Every Nurse Should Read
