I just felt really confident that [the midwife] had risk
assessed so much that if risks were coming up she would advise me
properly what to do. And I thought the really, really bad outcome
whether you are at home or at hospital it is still a really, really bad
outcome. And I felt there was a lower risk of needing intervention and
that escalating if I was at home. But I think a lot of that was to do
with my relationship with the community midwife and my trust in her and
her experience.
Home births were discussed spontaneously in nearly all interviews
because women had either experienced a home birth or actively chosen not
to have one. Women’s views on home birth varied widely. Some women
believed a home birth to be the best type of care. A common idea
expressed about home birth is that childbirth did not need to take place
in a hospital setting. For instance, one woman expressed a strong
preference for home birth and explicitly linked this to safety: