Home birth practitioners see normal birth as a natural, healthy life event that is safest and most satisfying without routine interventions. They expect you to be a partner in your own care.

If you view birth as being best safeguarded by medical technology and if you are comfortable with the use of routine interventions to actively manage labor and birth, a hospital birth might be a better fit for you.

You may find it very comforting to labor at home in familiar surroundings.

You will have complete control over your physical surroundings: you can set up your space exactly as you want it.

Your home may not be a place where you can relax and focus -- for instance if you have small children in a small home and nowhere to send them while you’re in labor.

You may feel safer and more relaxed at home, which can make birth easier, faster and less painful.

If the idea home birth just feels right to you, listening to your intuition can be empowering and liberating.

You or your partner may feel safer in a hospital or birth center where high-tech support is nearby.

You may feel anxious making a choice so outside the norm. You may feel judged by people around you. If something goes wrong, you may blame yourself or feel blamed by others more than if you had chosen a hospital birth.

You may find it easier to manage pain at home because you can move, eat and drink, bathe and choose the position you labor in. You will have privacy and control.

You can rent a birthing tub to use at home. Laboring in water can be an effective way to manage pain.

You cannot have an epidural at home. If you decide in labor that you want an epidural, you will have to transfer to the hospital.

In Illinois, only certified nurse midwives (CNMs) and doctors are licensed to attend home births.

Licensed home birth doctors and midwives have extensive training in their field. They follow the midwifery model of care, which is personal, holistic and family-centered.

Your licensed home birth doctor or midwife is skilled at helping you labor safely and effectively and manage pain without medications. He or she is also trained to recognize when you might need to transfer to the hospital.

Depending on where you live, you may not be able to find a doctor or certified nurse midwife (CNM) who attends home births in your area. Midwives who are not CNMs cannot practice legally in Illinois.

Licensed home birth practitioners only care for low risk women. If you are not low risk, you may not be eligible for a home birth.

Your midwife or doctor will come to your home when you go into active labor and stay with you until several hours after your baby is born. She or he will be available to you throughout.

You have complete control over who else is with you during labor and birth (family, friends, doula).

If you have a very long labor, the people who are there to support you (family, friends, doula) may get tired. There will be no staff on hand to take over for them.

When you birth at home, there are no rules or routines to limit your choices. You will have freedom to eat and drink, move instinctually in labor and deliver in the position that feels right to you.

Home birth practitioners are very patient and do not generally impose time limits on your labor.

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When you plan a home birth, you are much less likely to have any interventions than low risk women who plan hospital births — including c-section, induction, episiotomy, and pain medication.

C-section rates for women who plan home birth average are very low.

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If you are low-risk and attended by a well-trained provider, some research studies suggest that planning a home birth can be as safe as planning a hospital birth. While there are other research studies suggesting that a hospital birth is safer, the risk is very low in both settings. If you read more about the research and decide that you feel safe at home, home birth could be a good fit you. (See "The Research Says" below.)

You and your baby won’t be exposed to the illnesses found in the hospital.

If you need to transport to the hospital in labor, it is not usually an emergency. When an emergency does arise, home birth providers are trained to stabilize you and your baby as you head to the hospital.

Even if you are low-risk, some of the research studies suggest that planning a hospital birth is safer. If you read more about the research and conclude that you would feel safer in a birth center or hospital, then home birth might not be a good fit for you. (See "The Research Says" below.)

If you are not low risk, home birth will be less safe for you than birth in a hospital or birth center.

If there are no licensed providers who serve your area, home birth may be less safe for you. In Illinois, only Certified Nurse Midwives and doctors are licensed to attend home births. Unlicensed providers -- even if they are well-trained -- may be reluctant to transport to the hospital because they are practicing illegally. This could increase the risk to you of planning a home birth.

If you need to drive very far to get to the hospital for back-up care, then planning a home birth may be less safe for you.

Home birth practitioners do not have shifts and will stay with you throughout labor.

If you decide you want pain medication or if your labor becomes complicated, you will have to transfer care to the hospital. Although a few home birth practitioners have hospital privileges and can continue to be involved in your care when you transfer, most do not.

As labor gets underway, you can stay right where you are.

If you decide you want pain medication or if your labor becomes complicated, you will have be driven to the hospital while you’re in labor. Transporting during active labor can be painful, disruptive and upsetting.

Prenatal visits tend to be long and relaxed, with plenty of time to talk and ask questions. You may be able to bring other children with you.

Some home birth providers offer prenatal visits in your home.

If home prenatal visits are not an option, you may have to travel quite far to get to your prenatal appointments.

Unless you or your baby has any complications, you will be left undisturbed to bond with your baby.
You will not be separated from your baby even for the newborn wellness exam.

After your baby is born, you can settle in to your new routine with no interruptions. You do not need to drive home with a new baby.

You can have as many friends and family as you want come to meet the new baby.

Your home birth practitioner will come back to check up on you and your baby in the early days after your baby is born.

You will need to arrange your own support after the birth; you won’t have nurses checking up on you every 4 hours.

If you want to have the first day or two to give your new baby undivided attention, but you have small children at home, you might consider a birth center or hospital birth.

Home birth is cheaper than hospital birth.

Not all health insurance covers home birth. You may have to pay more out-of-pocket for home birth than for hospital or birth center birth.