Return to Advice and Birth Stories Read "What Now" Article Return to Research and Articles Safety In Birthing Since many women say they want to deliver in a hospital so that they will "safe", it is important to understand from a scientific perspective where it is safest to birth and who it safest to have as your provider, attending your birth.   One measure of the safety of birth place is infant mortality, specifically, neonatal deaths within the first 28 days. According to the Center for Disease Control, there were 19,098 neonatal deaths for 1990 for babies born in a hospital. For those babies born at home, there were 260 newborn deaths. Infant mortality is figured as the number of deaths per 1,000 live births. The death rate for babies born in the hospital was 5.6 and for those born at home was 11.1, which would seem to indicate that a hospital is a better bet for a baby's survival. However, when the homebirth statistics are further broken down into who attended the birth, the picture changes dramatically. Direct Entry Midwives had the best outcomes with a death rate of 1.9 compared to CNM-attended births (2.9) or physicians -- D.O.'s (15.1) or M.D.'s (24.7). 2 [Center for Disease Control, "Live births by place of delivery and race of mother, 1992", section 1, Natality, page 246.] The National Birth Center Study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in December 1989 reported that about 15% of women who begin labor in a freestanding birth center require transfer to an acute care facility, while only 2% require emergency transfer. The others were mainly transferred for slow progress or because the woman requested anesthesia. The overall Cesearean section rate was 4.4%. (compare that to the c-section rate of our local hospitals) Over 98% of the birthing women were satisfied with their birth experience. Accreditation for centers is based on carefully designed national standards and is provided by the Commission for the Accreditation of Freestanding Birth Centers. Licenser is provided by individual states. For more information contact The National Association of Childbearing Centers at: 215-234-8068. Click Here to read the Mehl home birth vs. Hospital birth study results Click Here to read an informative article by noted researcher and midwife Yvonne Lapp Cryns Click Here to read a seattle home-birth story Click Here to access several articles on homebirth Click Here to access evidence-based information about Birthing in a Birth Center Click Here to read an article from a father of 3--one hospital-born, one birth-center-born, and one home-born To read about Birthing in a Birth Center: Read this informative bit from a birthing center in Oregon An article from a Labor and Delivery Nurse who chose to birth in a birth center.  Well organized and thought out, easy to read!