For those of you who are apprehensive about whether spending the kind of money you'd spend on a homebirth is "selfish", then consider it an investment in your baby's future. The research clearly and overwhelmingly shows that, for women who have had a normal pregnancy, homebirth has better outcomes than hospital birth. Homebirth has been proven by numerous studies to be "as safe" as hospital birth, but in addition, with a much lower risk of interventions such as vaccuum extraction, forceps, or the need for caeserean section.

Tegan - for many women, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in contemplating a homebirth is negative previous experience of birth. A hospital birth, with its inherent interventions and complications, saps at a woman's confidence in her own ability. It may help to remember that there is also a body of research out there that suggests that the majority of the complications that occur during a hospital birth are a by-product of the hospital - inexperienced midwives, poor management by the maternity team, overbearing obstetric registrars, interventions that aere not necessary, such as induction for "post dates" when the dates have been worked out using older methods that have since been superseded, and the emotional stress - both conscious, and subconscious - that results from upping sticks from your comfortable home environment and driving to a less comfortable hospital. Remove all of these factors, return the natural process of birth to its natural place at home, and the complications that occurred last time simply don't occur at home.