MMJ- not quite!!
We were just like any other couple expecting their first baby and went to our local mat unit ( in 99) to look round and didn't like what we saw, and heard (from other people's experiences of hosp birth). So we contacted an independent midwife and never looked back. People say to my missus, "Oooh, aren't you brave!". But we think they're the brave ones, going into hospital at the last minute.
In hospital you are often on a "conveyor belt", often you are fitted with a monitor which means moving around is difficult or impossible. If your baby's heartbeat rises, the midwives suspect a problem and accelerate the birth, when all it could be is a blip, a momentary rise in HB.
If your baby does not conform to the hospital's timetable, you will be fretted over and intervention will take place.
Our friend said they were really pleased to have a natural birth. Oh, great! What happened? we asked.
Well, I was put on a monitor and then the baby's HB rose so I was given a drug to induce labour, and they had to use forceps, the baby didn't breathe properly for 12 minutes, then there was a shift change and the incoming midwife thought the outgoing midwife had administered syntometrin (to help eject the placenta) when she had not, and pulled on the cord, causing a haemorrhage, and large amount of blood loss requiring transfusion. But I had the baby naturally..........
I WAS SO GLAD THAT I WAS IN HOSPITAL - IF THAT HAD HAPPENED AT HOME, THE BABY WOULD HAVE DIED, AND SO MIGHT I..
But at home, there would not have been all that intervention, the midwife would not have been subject to a shift change, there would have been no haemo., etc....
At home you are relaxed in your own surroundings, no white coat syndrome. (My father-i-l went recently for a series of blood pressure readings, but every one was high, resulting in further stress & treatment, where as if they had done the reading at home, things would have been OK. He was getting stressed OTW to the drs..........)
It is well known that during labour, things can slow down and even stop, and the mother rests a while.
Our first baby from first contraction to birth was 33 1/2 hours, with a period in the middle.
The second also had a break in the middle where my missus got in the pool and napped for 25 minutes.....then things resumed.
But hospitals seem not to recognise these natural patterns - as I said, you have to conform to time limits and are only given so much time for each stage - ridiculous when women vary so much.
It's like saying "we only sell size 12 clothes, so if you're outside this size bracket, tough....
I'm not anti-hospital, though. They have their place for some births, but you just cannot "standardise" a labour or birth.
The other thing I am suspicious about is that if you ask our local hospital what the cesar rate is they say 10%.
The true rate is actually double that. Why don't they tell you the truth?
Some hospitals seem to cesar at the drop of a hat. Why?
Needless to say, our third (and last) baby will be born the same way. It's absolutely fantastic to see the baby you have made together being born...
I have no hesitation in saying that I cried more than the baby on both occasions........The Midwife had to say, "shut up, Simon, I can't hear the baby's HB"!
Hoping to lose another stone before I can find my Switch card. 
Her poor mother!