The Modern Mormon Woman and Home Birth

Since becoming more and more enamored with home birth, I have often wondered what the Church would say, if it ever said anything, about this concept. Is it too hippie, too "out-there," to be in accordance with gospel beliefs?

After a lot of thought, and some googling, which yielded only one or two actual "hits," I've come to a conclusion. Woman in the church are taught, among other things, to avoid drugs and alcohol. We are taught that a woman's place is in the home. And yet, when it comes time to bring life into the world, we rush to a hospital and demand drugs.

We also believe that the ability to procreate is a sacred gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. So why, when we see those exciting pink lines on the pregnancy test, do we run to our doctors to, what? See if He "did it right?"

It seems to me that birthing at home is going to require more than just faith in my body to do what it needs to do. I believe it will also take a large amount of faith in God to say, "I trust in my Heavenly Father that when He gave me this ability to create a baby, He also gave me the ability to safely bring this child of His into the world."

The one or two searches I did come up with regarding LDS beliefs and home birth left me with this thought: the woman I read about had felt birth was actually a spiritual experience. As she labored in a tub in her home, she placed a picture of the Savior where she could see it. It was that image she used to help herself focus. If I remember right, she even memorized a scripture to use as a mantra to help her see her through her goal.
(A side note: Heavenly Father felt enough confidence in woman's ability to birth that His own Son, Jesus Christ, was born with only Joseph and barn animals as witnesses.)

Can you imagine birth being a spiritual event? I'm not saying that any hospital birth is bad, or that a home birth is the only way to go. I've had a hospital birth, and I have never looked on it as a spiritual experience, despite the miracle that occurred. I truly feel that a birth at home can not only be a fulfilling, wonderful thing, but perhaps, if I go about it with the right frame of mind, I can have a Christ-centered birth.