Life is a game of chance, but we make our own luck (beyond what we are born with) by making sensible decisions, taking measured chances, and knowing when to adm

Life is a game of chance, but we make our own luck (beyond what we are born with) by making sensible decisions, taking measured chances, and knowing when to admit we are out of our depth. Yes, midwives (in some jurisdictions) are trained, qualified practitioners. That said, they are not equipped to deal with many, many complications other than by calling an ambulance and hoping for the best. Choosing to have my daughter born in a hospital instead of a home birth was most likely the difference between having a healthy baby girl and something in the range of severe mental handicap to stillbirth. Having a child is a huge risk and investment (by every measure, emotionally, financially, socially, economically, etc). Why would you risk having a stillborn child, life with a mentally or physically handicapped child (this is not a shot against handicapped children - it's a shot against people who refuse to apply critical thinking skills to emotionally charged high risk decisions) so that you can satisfy some foolish ideal that being born at home is better than being born around people who have trained for much of their adult lives to keep your kid alive in its first few days? It ranks right up there with the foolish parents who refuse to vaccinate children against common ailments or choose naturopathy or homeopathy because of "toxic western medicine".