Women's experience of planned home birth with a certified nurse midwife in rural Montana

This qualitative descriptive study was undertaken to address the lack of research based published literature that compares actual to expected home birth experience, or considers how well home birth met the needs that drove the decision to birth at home. Eleven women who gave birth at home with a certified nurse midwife (CNM) in attendance in rural southcentral Montana between September 1, 1995 and September 1, 1996 were interviewed. The participants varied in age, education, socioeconomic status, parity, religious affiliation, and prior birth sites. Five major categories of influences were found to be important to the decision process: (1) learning about the home birth option, (2) considering outside influences, (3) factoring in personal attitudes toward hospitals and mainstream health care, (4) consideration of reasons not to have home births and resolution of those concerns, and (5) consideration of reasons they would like to give birth at home.