NPR reported last week that the rate of home birth has increased pretty dramatically in the last few years (up 25% between 2004 and 2009). It's still a very small percentage of the total births, less than 1%, but the increase is still notable.
Why the increase? NPR identified mothers' concerns about the record high c-section rate and liberal use of interventions as one driver of the increase. One of my (hospital) midwives suggested that the lack of access to VBAC was driving more moms to birth at home. And when I interviewed Jennifer Block, the author of Pushed, for a podcast on the Motherlove Blog she attributed part of the increase to the Ricki Lake movie, The Business of Being Born.
In any case, when I heard that piece it occurred to me that, while I've posted many polls, I've never asked you where you birthed. So below is a poll asking just that. You can vote more than once if you've had more thanone baby. Me? 2 hospital births.
