IMO where to give birth is a personal choice - and as the woman doing the birthing you need to be comfortable with that choice. I'd just like to see women supported a little more and given a choice!
HairyFrotter
the National Birthday Trust study is the most comprehensive and robust study of the safety of HB done in the UK. Sadly it was done quite a while back now, but its still considered a good reference.
The study considered (low risk) women who were planning a HB at 36 weeks (might have been 37). Their MWs matched them for race, age, etc, as closely as possible with another woman on their books planning a hospital birth. Women who were planning a HB were considered in the "HB group", regardless of whether they then got a HB, changed their minds before labour or had to transfer in for medical reasons.
The study found that by planning a HB, women halved their chance of required intervention. Baby's born after a planned HB had higher AGPAR scores. Women required less pain relief. Infant and maternal mortality was so small in both groups that no statistical difference could be established.
So even factoring in the fact that some of those planned HB would have been emergency transfers, which you would anticipate to have poorer outcomes than if that same situation had occurred in a hospital environment, a planned HB is still at least as safe as a planned hospital birth for a low risk woman.
Scholes34
"In a hospital or birthing centre, it's much easier to ensure that the correct level of assistance is given at the right time with a number of women in different stages of labour."
And this is exactly why I like HB - to me, sharing a MW with two or three other women is increasing the risk of the situation. I felt very safe at home, partly because I was attended by a MW that I knew and trusted and who knew me - who could monitor the labour and the progression of the labour because she wasn't also trying to keep tabs on women in other rooms. I had confidence that my MW would spot a problem at a much earlier stage than it would have been picked up at hospital, just because she was there. Continuous support during labour from someone with experience has been demonstrated to improve birth outcomes.
Why on earth are we suggesting women go into hospital so that MW's can be shared around and women can be left to labour with minimal support, rather than campaigning for more MWs in an effort to reduce the number of expensive interventions?
WildSwan
"I worry that when home births were the norm,mobidity and mortality was so much higher"
That may be true - but it doesn't follow that morbidity and mortality were higher because home births were the norm. There have also been huge changes in maternal nutrition and level of ante-natal care most women in the UK today will receive as standard.
Did you know that when hospital birth started to become common, maternal mortality actually went up? Doctors weren't very good at washing their hands between examining patients (including the recently deceased) so purpureal fever was common - spread by the HCP's women were trusting to keep them safe.