Laid-back attitudes toward giving birth at home are changing in the Netherlands. Not so long ago, healthy pregnant women in the Netherlands who wanted to give birth in a hospital, rather than at home, were rare. They were usually foreigners who didn’t trust or understand the medical system. Now, says Amsterdam-based doula Maartje Bruning, a “vast majority” of her clients don’t plan to give birth at home — and before they consult with her, starting at about 20 weeks of gestation, they have “heard potential horror stories [from] peers or have read stuff online,” Bruning says. In 2005, nearly 30 percent of Dutch babies were born at home. By 2016, that figure had plummeted to 13 percent. | 
