In the United States, most moms-to-be still choose ob-gyns to deliver their babies. But according to research released this year [2], an all-time high of 8.1 percent of births were attended by midwives in 2009 (the most recent year that numbers are available) and it's a trend that's expected to continue. While many used to think of midwives as a choice only for crunchy types, now in some circles, having a midwife has even become trendy, according to The New York Times [3] with celebrities like Christy Turlington [4] and Gisele Bundchen have used them. What's more, midwives, whose services are typically covered by insurance [5], also have a more holistic approach to labor and delivery and aim to avoid interventions. As a result, they often have lower ceasarean rates [6] at a time when about one third of pregnancies results in a c-section.
http://www.ivillage.com/biggest-parenting-trends/6-b-505702#505733 [7]
Nice! Did you (or will you) use a midwife for your labor/delivery?
