Why are more women birthing at home?

Ricki Lake

posted: February 7, 2012, 12:14 pm

in: Pregnant, Health & Safety, News, Mom Stories



Some say that an increase in the number of women without insurance is a factor since home births are more affordable than hospital births. Others counter that insured women often pay out of pocket for home births because it isn’t covered under their policies.

Many childbirth professionals feel the increase is a result of more education and informed choice. They say women want more control over their environment and a one-on-one relationship with their birth attendant.

A few articles cited my 2008 documentary The Business of Being Born as a contributing factor combined with the “celebrity influence” of women like myself, Gisele Bundchen, and Cindy Crawford who have shared our positive home birth stories.

Personally, I think there is some truth to almost all these theories. I know firsthand that The Business of Being Born has opened many people’s eyes to the possibility of a home birth as a more mainstream option. But I think attributing the trend to being Hollywood-driven is kind of silly.

First of all, very few celebrities have natural births or home births and the ones who do rarely talk about it publicly. Secondly, celebrities may influence beauty and fashion trends but there’s a huge difference between getting a sexy tattoo and having a twelve-hour, unmedicated labor! Believe me, nobody has a natural birth or a home birth to be fashionable or trendy.

My decision to give birth at home with my second child was painstakingly researched and carefully deliberated and planned. Nobody thought it was “cool.” Everybody thought I was nuts.

The 29% rise in home births sounds significant—until you step back and realize that we are still talking about less than 1% of all births. At the end of the day, over 99% of the births in our country take place in the hospital.

This is why after seeing the enormous impact of The Business of Being Born, my partner Abby Epstein and I created an educational, four-film series called More Business of Being Born. Our new films aim to inform women about all their birth options and focuses mainly on hospitals and birth centers. Our new films feature celebrity birth stories, but these celebrities have a wide range of birth experiences.

Yet, it’s fascinating that home births are making a comeback right now. Maybe as our society becomes more technologically dependent and we are connecting more virtually than viscerally, there is a stronger desire to return to nature on other levels. Watching a woman give birth is truly awe-inspiring. Whether the birth occurs at home or in a hospital room, it’s an unforgettable experience to witness the female body doing what it was designed to do.

More Business of Being Born DVD sets go on sale today in retail stores and on Amazon.
To commemorate the retail release, we’re offering .99 cent rental sale on More Business of Being Born movies on iTunes.


Ricki Lake


Read Ricki's full bio
  • happy mommy

    I will never give birth in a hospital again. I was told to “Leave my dignity at the door”. I was one of 8500 women that gave birth that year. Hurry up get her in labor, get her PIT, then hurry up get the baby out, now time to go home. I had food poisoning, slipped on the bathroom floor because the shower was leaking, and felt very rushed.
    My last birth was at home with all of my kids watching their little sister come into the world. She took her first breath, cried, and we sang happy birthday. She was born into the water in our bedroom. No chemicals injected into my body.
    You need to watch the entire “Business of Being Born” to appreciate the entire story behind it.
    I loved seeing it and made my decision to have a home birth because of it. So many women wonder why they have post partum depression? The Pit. blocks the natural chemical release that the brain gives new moms to PREVENT PPD. Natural birth does the opposite. It gives you a feeling of euphoria and happiness.
    ((((applause)))) loved this movie. Thanks for making it! I tell everyone about it because it is so powerful. :)

  • Lara

    Very few celebrities have home births?!?!?!

    Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore, Gisele Bundchen, Ricki lake, julianne Moore, Jennifer Connelly, Meryl Streep,
    Cindy Crawford, Lisa bonet, Kate moss, Kelly Preston, Joely Fisher, Alyson Hannigon, Katie Price

    All the above celebrities have had home births. You had Kourtney Kardhashian pull out her own baby on live TV.

    It’s a total MYTH that celebrities don’t have home births or vaginal births.

  • Lara


    With due respect to your efforts, I have to say that I wasn’t impressed with your documentary. Not because it advocates home births, but simply because it doesn’t really give accurate information.

    Firstly, you claim that USA has a high maternal mortality rate. I agree- by the standards of developed nations a rate of 24 per 100,000 is high. What I don’t get is how easily you blame it on the 33% c section rate and the fact that ante natal care is obstetrician led, and then offer midwife led care as some cure all solution to this problem.
    You will be interested to know that Greece has a c section rate of around 44% and ante natal care there is mostly OB-led. Yet, Greece currently has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world (less then 2 per 100,000). Italy has a c section rate of almost 40% and again mostly OB led care. Despite that, the maternal mortality rate there is less than 4 per 100,000.
    Australia has the same c section rate as USA and yet their maternal mortality rate is half that of the USA.
    There are many other countries like Singapore, Qatar, Belgium, etc. where the c section rate is higher than 20%, ante natal care is OB led and YET they have maternal mortality rates lower than the USA.

    What does this tell you? The United States is doing something wrong other than having c sections and hiring obstetricians that is causing this increase in maternal mortality. If it were these two factors that caused increases in maternal deaths then this pattern would be followed globally not just in America.

    Your assertion that USA is the only developed country to have obstetrician led care is entirely incorrect. In several developed nations like Canada, Australia, UAE, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Singapore, Japan, Qatar, and many more majority of the births are under the care of OB/GYns.

    Should midwife led care be an option for women? Absolutely.
    Is it a magic cure for high rates of maternal mortality? Absolutely not.
    Should it be the default mode of care for pregnant women? No, they should be given an informed choice.

    I find it funny how your documentary criticises obstetricians for being “surgeons” and then you manage to rope in Micheal Odent ( a general surgeon and a man) to wax lyrical about the benefits of midwife led care.

    You claim to advocate choice, but in reality you only advocate choices that you would choose for yourself. Would you be as supportive of a woman who chose an epidural or an induction? What about women who make informed decisions to choose c sections? Are you supportive of their choice?

    Your talk of female bodies doing what they are “designed” to do is more damaging than beneficial. It seems to imply that women who don’t give birth vaginally are failures and women who don’t embrace the potential risks of vaginal birth are in some way denying themselves a right of passage.

  • Alice

    So I know I’m late to the party, but I just got around to watching this movie. There were a couple details that really made me think that the advocates were swinging so far the other way that they could easily alienate their more observant audience. I do not remember his name, but the older OB/GYN talked about mothers being unable to bond with their babies if they don’t experience the natural high of the love chemical cascade of natural childbirth. He went so far as to say they will never love their children. Well adoptive parents, and the millions of mothers who did not have this experience, and are found to have elevated oxytocin levels, oh and fathers of any sort, you were/are not experiencing “real love”. You’ll probably eat your child the first chance you get, or would have done so already if not for laws forbidding it.

    The second thing that really left a bad taste in my mouth was Ricki’s question to her friend and film maker Abby Epstein 8 months after the birth of her son. Ricki was at the birth. Ricki knew Abby wanted a home birth and had made all the arrangements to make that happen. Ricki KNEW the very well trained midwife recommended that Abby go to the hospital. Unless they are not really as friendly as they say that are in the films Ricki has watched her parent for 8 months. She knew of the cord around his neck, breech position, and knows her friend thinks the child would have died if she continued on with the home birth. She still asks ” do you feel cheated, do you feel you missed out?” Are you so blinded by the positive aspects of homebirth that you can’t even support your friend because her own birth experience was a counter point to your argument? I think not supporting and respecting the beauty and power of motherhood and childbirth IF it is unlike what you think is right is why so many women are feeling cheated. How are you any different than the “cold” medical professionals if you use this sort of language and act this way when mothers need interventions?

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