With homebirth and midwifery care, women and families experience:

· Longer prenatal visits, individualized and personal care, one-on-one attention at birth, and continuity of care by having the same attendant for prenatal, birth, and postpartum experiences.

· Midwives who are trained and capable of handling emergency situations and carry equipment including oxygen, anti-hemorrhagic medications, and IVs

· Greater involvement of mother and father with pregnancy choices and birth process

· Easier sibling adjustment

· Decreased rates of complications due to fewer interventions, which also supports the physiologic birth process.

Some decreased interventions and decreased rates of mortality and morbidity include:

· Urinary Catheters

. IV's

· Continuous electronic fetal monitoring

· Pitocin, epidural, and episiotomy use

· Cesarean section rates-less than 5% compared to over 30%

· Risk of infection goes down by 50%

· Risk of perinatal mortality

· The rate of postpartum depression

Homebirth and midwifery care also:

· Helps increase maternal relaxation and confidence, reduce stress and fear, facilitate greater levels of natural, hormonal pain relief, and foster greater support of the natural, physiologic process of birth because at home, the birth environment is familiar, comfortable, quieter, and calm.

· Encourage greater choices of positions for laboring and birth

· Creates greater opportunities for immediate bonding with baby and continuous contact, supporting early breastfeeding success and attachment

· Increases long-term breastfeeding success

· Supports time to build trust with care providers

· And is less expensive compared to hospital birth

Overall Families have much higher satisfaction with care

and

Experience more empowered births where they feel in control.