A Hungarian midwife known for promoting home births has lost an appeal against her two-year prison sentence for malpractice.
Gereb's case has become a rallying point for Hungarians seeking to have home births accepted as a regulated method of delivery.
Our first two children were born in hospital, where the care provided by our midwives was excellent, and both births passed without incident.
"Many births end in death or lifelong injury because there's a strong belief that nothing can be done to change this".
Particularly significant to Nice's thought process is the suggestion that home births offer a more conducive, less stressful environment than a noisy hospital ward, where infection is often more difficult to contain and where stretched doctors are all too keen on epidurals and forceps.
And another inquiry, into 26 potentially avoidable caesarean section births, is also under way.
These mothers have a rate of nine babies born with serious problems per 1,000 home births, compared with five per 1,000 for all other birthplaces.
So if Nice says home births are safe for healthy women and you are given the choice, should you go for a home birth?
Greece has suffered a huge drop in its number of live births because of austerity and unemployment, according to a senior government official.
Women with low-risk pregnancies are to be encouraged to have non-hospital births under new NHS guidelines, which could see almost half of mothers-to-be planning to deliver their baby away from traditional labour wards.
Warwick said the new guidance would not stretch existing medical staff further but ensure they were better employed, as more women would have births without interventions, which require more resources.
