Book recommendations 70Even in your capital city, though? I wasn't actually thinking about home births. Home births in NSW last year were about 0.1% of all births -- to compare, 0.4% were in... Chookie Ummm, you don't have to be poor to be challenged to pay for what could easily be $10-20k worth of bills. And, as I said, even if you were interested in paying, you might not be able to find a local (as in, within any sort of reasonable driving distance) provider in line with your preferences. Less than ONE PERCENT of babies in the US are born outside hospitals--and that one percent is not evenly distributed around the US. Direct entry midwives almost never have hospital privileges. Nurse midwives practice only at the sufferance of a backup obstetrician, so they have no power to buck the system too much or they are simply denied hospital privileges and backup (and hence, their abililty to practice at all). Most women don't know *anyone* who has given birth outside the hospital. Many women don't know anyone who has given birth without an epidural. Many women don't know anyone whose births were attended by a midwife. The overwhelming majority of women in the US believe (and are taught to believe) that out of hospital birth is unsafe and irresponsible. M.k.p participations are not even close to representative of the norm in the US. Best wishes, Ericka
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