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Place of Birth

img-cdcLogoHeaderTrends in Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 1990–2012

March 2014 – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics data brief presents updated data on trends and characteristics of out-of-hospital births in the United States, with detail on ethnicity, geographic region and risk profile. Refer to the CDC web site for the full report: Trends in Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 1990–2012.

Homebirth Transfers in the United States: Narratives of Risk, Fear, and Mutual Accommodation

March 2014 – Melissa Cheyney, Courtney Everson and Paul Burcher have published a study that explores the issues surrounding homebirth transfers for both homebirth midwives and hospital-based clinicians in the United States. In addition to identifying key stressors and larger sociopolitical mechanisms related to homebirth transfers , they also consider possible solutions in the movement towards developing an integrated maternity system. Click here for the full report.

The Journal of Clinical Ethics: Special Issue on Place of Birth

jceSeptember 2013 – Guest Edited by Elizabeth Bogdan-Lovis, Charlotte de Vries, and Raymond G. de Vries. The Journal of Clinical Ethics Issue: Fall 2013 Vol. 24, No. 3. Table of Contents:

  • When a Mother Wants to Deliver with a Midwife at Home. Edmund G. Howe
  • Planned Home Birth in the United States and Professionalism: A Critical Assessment. Frank A. Chervenak, Laurence B. McCullough, Amos Grünebaum, Birgit Arabin, Malcolm I. Levene, and Robert L. Brent
  • Ethics and the Architecture of Choice for Home and Hospital Birth. Elizabeth Bogdan-Lovis and Raymond G. de Vries
  • Revisiting “The Maximin Strategy in Modern Obstetrics”. Howard Brody and Carol Sakala
  • A Reconsideration of Home Birth in the United States. Howard Minkoff and Jeffrey Ecker
  • The Absolute Power of Relative Risk in Debates on Repeat Cesareans and Home Birth
  • in the United States. Eugene Declercq
  • Moral Science: Ethical Argument and the Production of Knowledge about Place of Birth. Raymond G. de Vries, Yasaswi Paruchuri, Kathleen Lorenz, and Saraswathi Vedam
  • Women’s Perceptions of Childbirth Risk and Place of Birth. Mary Regan and Katie McElroy
  • Exceptional Deliveries: Home Births as Ethical Anomalies in American Obstetrics. Claire L. Wendland
  • Being Safe: Making the Decision to Have a Planned Home Birth in the United States. Judith A. Lothian
  • Facilitating Women’s Choice in Maternity Care. Marianne Nieuwenhuijze and Lisa Kane Low
  • Personal Perspective: One Obstetrician’s Look at a Polarizing Birth Arena. Annette E. Fineberg
  • Personal Perspective: Seeking an Alternative Baseline for Birth. Darcia Narváez
  • Personal Perspective: Individual versus Professional Preferences. Julie Sharon-Wagschal
  • Personal Perspective: The Industry Take-Over of Home Birth and Death. Merilynne Rush
  • Personal Perspective: On the Need for a Real Choice. Steve Calvin
  • Legal Briefing: Home Birth and Midwifery. Thaddeus Mason Pope and Deborah Fisch

Webinar: A Home Birth Primer for MCH Programs

AMCHP-logoJuly 11, 2013 – In light of the recent attention on safe birthing practices and the newly released AAP policy statement on Planned Home Births, the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs(AMCHP) hosted a national webinar, ” A Home Birth Primer for MCH Programs,” on Thursday, July 11, 2013. The webinar was moderated by Valerie Ricker, RN, MSN, MS, Title V Director for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Presenters were the following Home Birth Consensus Summit delegates: Marian MacDorman, PhD, National Center for Health Statistics; Bill Barth, MD, Mass General Hospital/Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, and Past Chair, Committee on Obstetric Practice, ACOG; Kristi Watterberg, MD, University of New Mexico and Chair, Committee on Fetus and Newborn, AAP; and Geradine Simkins, RN, DEM, CNM, MSN, Executive Director, Midwives Alliance of North America. Presentation slides and a complete recording are available on the AMCHP web site.

Institute of Medicine: Workshop on Research Issues in the Assessment of Birth Settings

birthsettingslaunch2The Institue of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM) conducted a two-day public workshop on Research Issues in the Assessment of Birth Settings on March 6 & 7, 2013, in Washington DC . The objective of the workshop was to review updates to the 1982 IOM-NRC report Research Issues in the Assessment of Birth Settings . The workshop featured presentations from invited speakers and discussions to highlight research findings that advance our understanding of the effects of maternal care services in different types of institutional settings on maternal labor, clinical and other birth procedures, and birth outcomes. These settings include conventional hospital labor and delivery wards, alternative birth settings that may be hospital-affiliated or free-standing, and home births. The workshop topics considered research on different organizational models of care delivery, workforce requirements, patient and provider satisfaction levels, and birth outcomes. The workshop also included topics that will identify key data sets and relevant research literature that may inform a future consensus study to address these concerns. Presenters included the following Home Birth Consensus Summit Delegates: Elizabeth Armstrong, William Barth, Debra Bingham, Laurie Cawthon, Zsakeba Henderson, Marian MacDorman, Brynne Potter, Carol Sakala, Jane Sandall, Kristi Watterberg. View Presentations and Videos: http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Women/BirthSettings/2013-MAR-06.aspx

The follow-up report, An Update on Research Issues in the Assessment of Birth Settings – Workshop Summary, was released September 23, 2013 and is available on the IOM web site.

National Birth Center Study II

AABCJanuary 30, 2013 – The American Association of Birth Centers conducted a study over 3 years (2007-2010) with 79 midwifery-led birth centers in 33 states participating. Findings were positive for the safety of birth center care and potential cost savings for maternity care. View the full results of The National Birth Center Study II, visit the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health web site: www.jmwh.org.

Midwifery Journal: Special Issue on Place of Birth

Midwifery JournalMidwifery Journal – Vol. 28 No. 5 October, 2012 p. 547-652 Table of Contents:

  • Place of birth. Jane Sandall, Rona McCandlish, Debra Bick
  • Determinants of place of birth decisions in uncomplicated childbirth in Bangladesh: An empirical study. Joyce K. Edmonds, Moni Paul, Lynn Sibley
  • Birthing outside the system: Perceptions of risk amongst Australian women who have freebirths and high risk homebirths. Melanie Jackson, Hannah Dahlen, Virginia Schmied
  • Making physiological birth possible: Birth at a free-standing birth centre in Berlin. Nancy I. Stone
  • Why home birth? A qualitative study exploring women’s decision making about place of birth in two Canadian provinces. Beth Murray-Davis, Patricia McNiven, Helen McDonald, Anne Malott, et al.
  • Problematising public and private work spaces: Midwives’ work in hospitals and in homes. Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Rebecca Sutherns, Margaret MacDonald, Jacquelyne Luce
  • Economic evaluation of birth care in low-risk women. A comparison between a midwife-led birth unit and a standard obstetric unit within the same hospital in Norway. A randomised controlled trial. Stine Bernitz, Eline Aas, Pål Øian
  • The Canadian Birth Place Study: Describing maternity practice and providers’ exposure to home birth. Saraswathi Vedam, Laura Schummers, Kathrin Stoll, Judy Rogers, et al.
  • Preferred place of birth: Characteristics and motives of low-risk nulliparous women in the Netherlands. Tamar van Haaren-ten Haken, Marijke Hendrix, Marianne Nieuwenhuijze, Luc Budé, et al.
  • The methodological challenges of attempting to compare the safety of home and hospital birth in terms of the risk of perinatal death. Andrea Nove, Ann Berrington, Zoë Matthews
  • Going public: Do risk and choice explain differences in caesarean birth rates between public and private places of birth in Australia?. Yvette D. Miller, Samantha J. Prosser, Rachel Thompson
  • Organisational strategies and midwives’ readiness to provide care for out of hospital births: An analysis from the Birthplace organisational case studies. Christine McCourt, Juliet Rayment, Susanna Rance, Jane Sandall
  • Factors associated with maternal intrapartum transfers from a freestanding birth centre in São Paulo, Brazil: A case control study. Flora Maria Barbosa da Silva, Sonia Maria Junqueira Vasconcellos de Oliveira, Debra Bick, Ruth Hitomi Osava, et al.

Home Birth in the United States, 1990-2009

January 2012 – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics data brief examines recent trends and characteristics of home births in the United States from 1990 to 2009, and compares selected characteristics of home and hospital births. Click here to view the report.

National Perinatal Association (NPA) Position Statement on Choice of Birth Setting, 2008

July 2008 – In their position statement, the NPA affirms their support and respect for a families right to choose their place of birth. They acknowledge that planned home birth should be attended by a qualified clinician with support from the wider health care system in ensuring a “smooth and rapid transition to hospital if necessary”. Click here to view the position statement.

Trends and Characteristics of Home and Other Out-of-Hospital Births in the United States, 1990-2006

img-cdcLogoHeaderAugust 2010 – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Vital Statistics System report examines trends and characteristics of out-of-hospital and home births in the United States from 1990-2006. Click here to view the report.

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