Home Births On The Rise In Utah, But Still A Small Minority Of How Babies Are Born
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The portion of Utah women who gave birth outside a hospital doubled between 1990 and 2012, though the numbers are still small, according to a new report from the state's health department.
Cost may be part of the reason for the growing popularity of home births, said Nan Streeter, maternal and child health director at the Utah Department of Health. A typical hospital birth costs about $7,000 before insurance, and the bill for a cesarean section is usually more than twice that figure.
More women also want to have children without an epidural or other medical intervention, Streeter said.
But homebirth numbers are still small: Less than 3 percent of Utah babies born between 2010 to 2012 were born at home or in a birthing center, the report found.
Though the small pool of about 3,700 births over the two-year period makes it hard to pinpoint trends, the analysis indicates that the death rate for newborns born at home is twice that of those born at hospitals.
"Women need to make sure they feel comfortable that the provider who is delivering them is trained and experienced in handling emergencies, because any pregnancy can result in an emergency," Streeter said. More than two-thirds of the out-of-hospital births studied in the state were attended by unlicensed midwives, according to the report.
Holly Richardson, a retired midwife and former state legislator who helped write licensure requirements 10 years ago, said that while getting a license allows midwives to give certain medications, some experienced midwives have chosen not to go through the state licensure process.
"As we talked with legislators, there was a feeling then that still exists now: licensure should not be used as a means to keep people out of the profession who could otherwise be practicing," Richardson said.
The report found that women who give birth outside hospitals tend to experience fewer complications, have children already and live in rural areas. They're also less likely to get prenatal care, the report found.
The report relied on new, more detailed birth-certificate data collected by the state starting in 2009.
Historically, most Utah babies were born at home at the turn of the century. The portion fell to 44 percent by the year 1940, and 30 years later that number had dropped to 1 percent.
As those numbers grow again, it's important to keep collecting data to more clearly identify trends, Streeter said.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
