The problem with not registering is that you'll basically have to register one way or another.

One of the reasons I said it was "a tiny bit sketchy." I'm certainly not saying it's a good idea.

I know it's not normal for women to die in child birth, but it was exceedingly common for that to be the type of death that killed women.

Not only has medicine improved, but knowledge has as well. It's safer than ever to do a homebirth.

Heck, I just looked it up (this was just the first study I found, not claiming it's indicative or inclusive of reality), home births had lower mortality than hospital births in normal circumstances, but if surgery was required that of course flips. But if you're relatively confident of a smooth birth, you're potentially (I do stress potentially) better off with a home birth. If you have any sort of risk factors you want to stronger consider a hospital though, at the very least.

Now, full disclaimer, there's plenty of adjustments you could make to that, like the people having homebirths are probably significantly healthier than average. Who knows what the number would look like if you took the landwhales and the like out of the equation, for example.

Beyond a surprise circumcision, there's little the hospitals actually going to do to hurt your kid without your permission. They're very unlikely to hurt the mother intentionally.

I'd argue a hospital, with all the infections roaming around, is a very bad place for a baby to be in general. If you get checkups before hand, and know things are healthy, I think a homebirth is fine. I'm not saying it's for everyone, I'm not telling anyone that's what they should do, but I think the idea that it's not feasible, or quite risky, is outdated.

It's honestly a little weird how fucking good they are at c-sections. It's kind of a factory procedure at this point. Docs and nurses will be kind of annoyed if you don't want one because it takes so much longer.

I don't view that as a good thing, personally. In fact I view it as somewhat anti-human. Birth is one of the core components of life, I don't think that process should be done away with for convenience, no matter how skilled they've gotten at it. Who knows what that does to the mother/child bond, too (another study I should look up later.) All sorts of chemicals are released during birth, cutting that process short could be bad for the child or mother. Also, there's always been a distinction between natural birth and C-section or the like. Not claiming it's a medical source, but Macbeth springs to mind. "From his mother's womb untimely ripped," and all that. Which always in turn reminds me of the Reduced Shakespeare bit.