Home births are making a comeback — notably in Oregon

By Shari Roan / Los Angeles Times

Published: January 27. 2012 4:00AM PST

Home birth is making a marked resurgence in the United States, according to data released Thursday by the federal government.

A century ago, most births took place at home. But the rate fell steadily and slipped to less than 1 percent of all births by 1969 and just over 0.5 percent in 2004.

Though still not common, home births have risen 29 percent from 2004 to 2009, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, 0.72 percent of all births took place at home. The trend is particularly noteworthy among white women. Home births among that group rose 36 percent since 2004 and accounted for more than 1 percent of all births in 2009.

The northwestern part of the country has the strongest trend in home births — 2 percent in Oregon and 2.6 percent in Montana. The lack of transportation in rural areas may play a significant role in some areas, the authors of the report stated. Cost might be a factor too, because home births are about one-third the cost of hospital births.

Most of the home births in 2009 were attended by midwives (62 percent), the report said. Only 5 percent of home births were attended by doctors.

Home births tend to be lower-risk — not because birthing at home is safer but because typically only healthy, low-risk women opt to try a home birth. The rate of preterm home births in 2009 was 6 percent compared with a 12 percent rate in hospitals. Only 4 percent of home-birth babies were low birthweight.

The report was released from the National Center for Health Statistics.

CDC Finds Continued Increase in Home Births
Report Highlights Disparities in Access for Women of Color

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 26, 2012)—A report released by the CDC today found a 29 percent increase in home births from 2004 to 2009. The rate of home births among non-Hispanic white women underwent a dramatic increase, while the rate for women of color decreased or remained stagnant, a trend that reflects racial and ethnic disparities in other areas of maternity care throughout the U.S.


“Unfortunately, the women who could most benefit from out-of-hospital midwifery care are those who are least likely to have access to Certified Professional Midwives with the specialized training needed to provide it,” said Susan Jenkins, Legal Counsel for The Big Push for Midwives Campaign. “The CDC report and other research shows that babies born to women cared for by Certified Professional Midwives are far less likely to be preterm or low birth weight, two of the primary contributing factors not only to infant mortality, but to racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes.”


Barriers to out-of-hospital maternity care include laws in 23 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico that prohibit Certified Professional Midwives from practicing, as well as laws or policies in all but 11 of the remaining states that deny Medicaid coverage for home births managed by Certified Professional Midwives.


“As we work to address disparities by increasing the cultural proficiency of midwives practicing in out-of-hospital settings and diversifying the midwifery work force, we also need to change laws nationwide so that all women have access to out-of-hospital maternity care with Certified Professional Midwives,” said Jenkins.

Here they are!!

I know most of us have wanted to see cute "bump" pics from Emily.  Well, since she's so tiny and not bumpish enough (in my opinion), the next best thing is to see what's inside!!  So drumroll please....................................



 This is an image of one of the girls sucking on the other one's ear.  Adorable, right?!

After a lot of thought on how we can get this blog to be fun and get everyone involved, it's been decided that we will start having a "spotlighted" person every couple of weeks.  Our first person (victim) is....

Carrie G.

I am married, and we will celebrate 16 years this year. I am the mother of one son, and we are currently waiting to adopt. I graduated a long time ago from Cosmetology School, and even though I am retired from that, I have kept my license current. My husband is currently working on his Master's Degree and he is half way through.

Here are some of my favorites:

Favorite Color: Orange

Favorite T.V. Show: CSI & Dancing with the Stars

Favorite Movie: Baby Mama

Favorite Food: Anything I don't have to make!

Favorite Restaurant: Mandarin

Favorite Candy Bar: Snickers

Favorite Game: Solitaire

Favorite Hobby: Reading (some of my favorite authors are Mary Higgins Clark, John Grisham & Nicholas Sparks, & Dave Ramsey)

Favorite day of the week: Wednesday

Dream Vacation: Hawaii

Favorite Music: Country

Misc. Favorites: Shopping, Shoes

Carrie started at LBS in December 2011, and is a cousin to Heather!

Diane went out this morning to snap some pictures to share. From up close it's so beautiful to see the ice on the trees, but I'm sure not pretty to see it break their branches.

These pictures don't do it justice, but you can kind of get an idea of how thick the ice is on just about EVERYTHING here in this area. When my boys and I went out to try breaking some of the ice off our incredible blueberry bushes, the branches were breaking off with a 'snap' and so we decided to let nature take its course and hope for the best when all thaws out.

When Julie mentioned the snapping of the branches on these tall trees, it is an ominous sound with it being quiet outside and then you hear this CRRRAAACK! And then an avalanche of snow and ice cascading down through the trees. My son was out there when one came down about 5 feet in front of him and just covered him in all of this snow 'dust' and disappeared for a bit. It was hilarious.

Isn't this the way it seems most days?

There's two to wash, two to dry.

There's two who argue, two who cry.

There's two to kiss, two to hug.

And best of all, there's two to love!

Emily now has lots of little pink items to hang in the closet.

She was showered with pink and love from family and friends.

Luckily, Suzanne was able to attend and tattled that there were pics

so we could all be involved in the fun.

This is Suzanne and Emily with their adorable Grandma.

Three super beautiful ladies!!