babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
CDC Reports Sudden Rise in Home Births
Ever since Ricki Lake’s movie, “The Business of Being Born,” was released in 2008, home birth has been the subject of news stories and trend pieces, heated discussions and dire warnings from M.D.s. The film was influential to be sure. It brought home birth out from the fog of burning sage and into the clean-aired living rooms of Brooklyn apartment dwellers. It also influenced more than one woman to go the at-home route for childbirth.
But Lake’s movie can’t take all the credit (or blame, I suppose. Depends on your attitude). At the time the movie was released, home birth had already begun to reverse an almost 15-year steady decline, according to research coming out of the the Centers for Disease Control.
Their National Vital Statistics Report, released this week, found a sudden 3 percent jump in the number of births taking place outside of a hospital, starting in 2005 — a 5 percent jump in home births alone.
For the following three years, out-of-hospital births comprised a full one percent of all births in the country.
Of course, 1 percent is a tiny fraction, especially considering that 70 years ago, 44 percent of all births occurred outside a hospital. Still, 1 percent represents 38,568 actual births (24,970 of which took place at home). That’s not insignificant. There were 10,781 births in freestanding birth centers, according the report. The remainder of the non-hospital births happened in a clinic or the doctors office and “other” (probably all those babies born in McDonald’s drive-thrus, on planes and in taxi cabs).
So who are these thousands of women giving birth at home?
Most are non-Hispanic white women, over the age of 25 and who already have kids. While white women make up more than half of all hospital births, they make up 84 percent of all homebirths. Black women also have 8 percent of the homebirths yet they’re only 16 percent of hospital births. Hispanic women have 8 percent of the homebirths but are 25 percent of all hospital births.
Teens have the lowest rates of out-of-hospital births, while women over 40 (and especially over 45) are mostly likely to. The women with the most kids also made up the largest percent of the homebirths in the years studied.
Nearly three-quarters of all homebirths happen in rural counties with a population of less than 100,000.
Some states, like Vermont and Montana, saw twice the national rate of homebirth in their states in 2005 and 2006, while states like Louisiana and Nebraska had only .2 percent of the births.
Almost 61 percent of the homebirths were attended by midwives. Of that number, a quarter were attended by certified nurse midwives and the other 75 percent by lay midwives and certified professional midwives.
But why the jump? Researchers only speculated in the report, saying the high rural numbers may indicate a lack of services or transportation for a significant group of people. They also acknowledge religious beliefs can preclude some women from giving birth in hospitals. The report mentions the desire for low-intervention births and the fact that the more kids a woman had (or the older she was) the greater the chance she’d do it at home should mean something. Does it mean previous inadequate births in hospitals pushed them toward home? It would also be interesting to know what percent of homebirths were VBACs.
Also interesting is a report on what doctor’s say about the rise in c-sections.
The years covered in this study predate all the hubbub about home birth. A study of the following three years would tell us whether it really its a Hollywood trend likened to spa treatments as the Today Show reported last year.
What do you think? Why the rise in home births 2005? What triggered that?
More Posts
C-Section? Request Stitches, Not Staples
Older Moms, Trophy Wife Couples, Bigger Autism Risks
How Kids Slowly Kill a Restaurant
Does Bread Cause Miscarriages?
Cruelty In Labor — Sometimes it’s Subtle
Barbie Pop Tarts Could Undo ‘Let’s Move’
Photo: babble.com
Go Back To Strollerderby
10 Comments
[...] CDC Reports Sudden Rise in Home Births [...]
Moms Breaking Up With Friends | Strollerderby commented on Mar 10 10 at 6:26 pmAmy Tuteur, MD commented on Mar 04 10 at 6:59 pmNo, the homebirth rate is NOT rising. According to the CDC report, the homebirth rate has been falling since 1990. Yes, there was a brief statistical blip from 2004-2005 within that downward trend, but that leaves the homebirth rate at what it was in 2000. In other words, it still represents only a paltry 0.59% of births.
Laure68 commented on Mar 04 10 at 7:55 pmI know this has nothing to do with anything, but I was just reading the CDC report and almost spit out my coffee at this line, which refers to who attends to a birth besides a midwife.
“‘‘Other’’ refers to any other person who delivered the baby—such as a family member, emergency medical technician, or taxi driver. ”
Is it really that common for a taxi driver to deliver a baby that it needs to be listed?
BNE commented on Mar 05 10 at 8:03 pmI am not dissing homebirth, I think it’s extremely unfortunate how few women in the US have one. However, Lake’s film is another matter. It is extremely biased in its agenda and presents a great deal of misinformation and dumbs down frankly, insultingly to women I think, what is such a complex issue. I recommend reading “Birth Day” by pediatrican Mark Sloan for a much more factual and balanced look at natural versus medicalized childbirth.
Tiffany commented on Mar 06 10 at 12:27 pmI have five children. My first two were born in 2003 and 2005. Both were born in the hospital, on drugs and vaginally. My daughter was born in 2005 and was not breathing due to the drugs given during labor. I was misinformed on how those drugs would affect her. She is now 5 and in intensive speech therapy for verbal apraxia due to decreased oxygen at birth. After her birth I knew I would never have another hospital birth unless it were medically necessary. I have gone on to have three more children, all born at home. In 2006, 2008, and 2009. My 2008 baby was born unassisted. I delivered him myself with my husband watching. My 2006 and 2009 babies were both delivered by the same homebirth midwife in my area. We love her to death but we were living in a different city in 2008 and didn’t love the midwife there. If we have any more children, they will be born at home unless medical issues arise. :)
JCF commented on Mar 07 10 at 6:33 pmI’ve had one hospital birth, which went extremely smoothly (no inventions, no complications, and a healthy mom and baby), but I found my care from my doctor and postpartum nurses to be lacking in a variety of areas. For my second pregnancy, I chose a homebirth midwife who was extremely experienced, competent, and caring. We had a wonderful and safe birth at home, with the best care I could possibly imagine. We’re currently planning a third home birth for this summer.
RP commented on Mar 08 10 at 10:39 amDon’t know about the US but in the Netherlands giving birth at home is common. You give birth in the hospital if you are high risk, having more than one child or want to have pain meds. Almost in all over cases children are born at home, safe and sound.
I woman gives birth at home with the help of a midwife and a type of nurse. This extra care giver stays with the new mother for a week, helping take care of mother and child, cooking breakfast and luck, helping take care of any other young children.
Some may looks at the number of child deaths in the Netherlands and frown but this is not due to giving birth at home but due to the age of first time mothers and the fact that a lot of immigrant women do not have the best of health and miss appointments.
Mainiac midwife commented on May 19 10 at 8:36 pmRP-
the Netherlands has excellent Maternal and Infant mortality rates compared to the United states.
in the industrialized world, the US is ranked DEAD LAST because it’s rates are so much higher than the rest of the world.
Phil commented on Jul 06 11 at 11:43 pmIt saddens me that so many women feel they have to ditch qualified medical care to get the “woo” experience they feel they need at this time. Direct entry midwives sometimes put up a shingle after having attended just twenty births. That is far too few.
I managed with each of my children to get the wonderful, relaxing vibe in the hospital with my Certified Nurse Midwife and my hubby at my side. I had no interventions of any kind and the NICU was steps away in a true emergency. Thankfully, there were none.
Toshia Parker commented on Jan 05 12 at 5:57 pmPhil
It is wonderful that you were able to be relaxed and have a wonderful experience in the hospital for your births however you are mistaken if you think women choose homebirth for the “woo” experience. Many women have given birth in the hospital the first time and both the baby and the woman have suffered. Women are bullied and abused many times. As a doula, I have acted as a go between in some terrible circumstances that should never ever have happened.
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
10