More women choose do-it-yourself births
source: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9130439
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When Jennifer Margulis went into labor with her fourth child, she sent her husband off to take the kids to school, then waited at home for her body to do what she felt confident it had evolved over millions of years to do on its own.
There was no rushing to the hospital, no midwife, no EMTs. Just Jennifer and her husband, home alone, giving birth.
Nationwide, 90 percent of births still take place in hospitals with doctors attending, said Oregon State University medical anthropologist and midwife Melissa Cheney. Another 8 to 10 percent are with midwives in hospitals or birthing centers. And 1 to 2 percent are at home.
The numbers of at-home births that are unattended are impossible to track, Cheney said.
But Internet traffic and books on the subject indicate more women are choosing to take control with what is becoming known as freebirth because they are concerned about the United States' dismal record of maternity care and skyrocketing rate of Cesarean births, now at nearly 32 percent of all births, Cheney said.
There was no rushing to the hospital, no midwife, no EMTs. Just Jennifer and her husband, home alone, giving birth.
Nationwide, 90 percent of births still take place in hospitals with doctors attending, said Oregon State University medical anthropologist and midwife Melissa Cheney. Another 8 to 10 percent are with midwives in hospitals or birthing centers. And 1 to 2 percent are at home.
The numbers of at-home births that are unattended are impossible to track, Cheney said.
But Internet traffic and books on the subject indicate more women are choosing to take control with what is becoming known as freebirth because they are concerned about the United States' dismal record of maternity care and skyrocketing rate of Cesarean births, now at nearly 32 percent of all births, Cheney said.
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