Giving birth is the utmost rite of passage for human beings. For women, it is a life-changing event. There is growing evidence that a safe and satisfying birth experience can depend on the environment in which it takes place, and this is among the reasons why an increasing number of women, in Italy and abroad, is choosing to give birth in the most familiar place: their home. A positive childbirth can be a fulfilling and empowering moment for women, when vulnerability turns into strenght and fear into self-confidence, and it can lay the foundations of the mother-son relationship. On the other hand, a negative experience can have life-long consequences on both. If the hospitalization of birth has brought undeniable benefits, at the same time a highly medicalized approach to birth has gradually weakened the trust in women’s ability to give birth naturally. In order to avoid excessive interventions or lead by the desire of giving birth in a more intimate and careful environment, many women each year choose home birth with the assistance of midwives and partners only.
