"Where are you going to have your baby?" Raya asked me when I told her I was pregnant. "I haven't decided, probably in a birthing center," I said. "Why not at home?" she asked. "What do you mean?" I looked at her confused, "do people do that?" Because of my good friend, I learned that many people have their babies in their own home, welcoming their new child into the heart of their family from the beginning. I learned that it costs the system 1/5th the cost for a home birth t