Anne Cutler

4:16 p.m. CST, February 22, 2012
NEW ORLEANS—

Bena McCain never planned on having a home birth until after she got pregnant.  "I realized that home birth with a midwife offered alternatives that basically alleviated all of the fears that I had about the labor and delivery.”  McCain says those fears included eclampsia, toxemia and hospitals.  “To think of the sterile hospital environment where all the sick people go, it didn't seem like the right way for me."

Only 0.2% of Louisiana moms give birth at home, but nationally, it's a growing trend.  A study by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that from 2004 to 2009, home births jumped 29%.

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New Orleans midwife Sally Acosta has noticed the spike.  She's currently working with ten women.  "I visit women in their home.  I do all their prenatal care at their home.  I also do a lot of late night visits because my clients work, so they don't have to take off of work and their partner can be there."

Acosta did not attend medical school.  She studied at a midwife college and is licensed through the board of medical examiners.  Acosta is trained in dealing with hemorrhages or resuscitation and carries the same medicines and IVs as a doctor.  She’s equipped to handle most emergency situations.  However, emergencies still happen.  The high-profile death of a midwife advocate in Australia is raising safety questions about home births.  36 year old Caroline Lovell died of a heart attack just one day after having her child.

Mothers can be transported to a hospital if there's any sort of complication, but it doesn't happen very often.  Acosta says only 5% of her mothers are transported and about 3% are for pain.  She says, "We're very well trained in assessing for high risk and if we see anything that’s coming out of the range of normal, we don’t hesitate to go to the hospital.

McCain ended up making that trip to the hospital for pain meds, but today mother and baby are resting comfortably at home.