(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services says the number of at home births in the state has gone up from around 450 to almost 850 in the last ten years. Licensed midwife Caitlin Hainley, with the Des Moines Midwife Collective has some thoughts on why women want a home birth. “I think the number one thing is because they want to feel like they have autonomy and control during their prenatal care and births,” she says. Hainley says the women want more one-on-one care.

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“They don’t want to feel coerced or forced into something, and they want to know who their provider is,” she says.

Iowa Health and Human Services says home births are still just a fraction of the roughly 40-thousand babies born annually in Iowa.