In the last decade, giving birth at home has become an increasingly popular option for some couples. Assisted by a physician or a nurse-midwife, many women have successfully given birth at home     1    healthy babies. In fact, some studies indicate that—for     2    pregnancies—home delivery is as safe as hospital delivery.     3    of home birth argue that the atmosphere in a hospital—with all its forbidding machines, rules, regulations, and general lack of "homeyness"—is stressful.     4    , giving birth in a hospital detracts from what should be a joyous, natural human experience. Supporters of home birth further argue that hospitals are     5    to deal with illness and that the delivery of a baby should not be viewed as an illness.
    On the other side of the argument, critics of home birth argue that if emergency medical     6    are necessary, giving birth at home may be     7    dangerous. Furthermore, hospital practices in labor and delivery have changed     8    in the last decade, particularly with the increased popularity of the Lamaze method. Thus hospitals are not the strange, forbidding environments they once were.     9    hospitals, for example, allow fathers to be present     10    the entire labor and delivery, and many allow the father to be present     11    the operating room during the cesarean deliveries. Many hospitals have     12    created birth centers, homelike rooms with comfortable beds and armchairs, that allow labor and delivery to     13    in a relaxed atmosphere, while     14    only a few minutes     15    emergency equipment.
    For a woman who wants to have a home birth, careful medical screening is     16    .     17    women with normal pregnancies and anticipated normal deliveries     18    attempt a home birth. A qualified physician or nurse-midwife must be part of the planning. Finally, there must be access     19    a hospital     20    an unanticipated emergency.