Emily Hedegard

1 month ago | centralmaine.com | Emily Hedegard |Kate Cough

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1 month ago | newscentermaine.com | Emily Hedegard |Kate Cough

MAINE, USA — In the United States and across the world, birth rates are falling. Fertility rates in the United States reached a historic low in , and have dropped more than twenty percent in the past three decades, to 1.6 births per woman of reproductive age. In Maine, where fertility rates have long been lower than the national average, that figure was 1.47 births per woman in 2022.

1 month ago | themainemonitor.org | Emily Hedegard |Kate Cough

Editor’s Note: This story is the third in a series exploring maternity care in Maine. In the United States and across the world, birth rates are falling. Fertility rates in the United States reached a historic low in , and have dropped more than twenty percent in the past three decades, to 1.6 births per woman of reproductive age. In Maine, where fertility rates have long been lower than the national average, that figure was 1.47 births per woman in 2022.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Emily Hedegard |Kate Cough

As hospitals around the state shut their labor and delivery units and some of those that remain struggle with staffing, some pregnant patients are choosing to give birth at home with a midwife to avoid long drives, planned inductions or because they worry their wishes would not be respected in a hospital setting. Katelin Potter-Rivera chose to drive the two hours to a birth center in Bangor for both of her pregnancies, despite living near a hospital with an obstetric unit.

1 month ago | pressherald.com | Emily Hedegard |Kate Cough

The vast majority of births in Maine — roughly 97% — occur in hospitals. But like the rest of the country, the number of home births has risen in the state in recent years, jumping 41% between 2018 and 2023, from 228 to 321. Nationwide, the percentage of home births in the United States reached 1.26% of all births in 2020, a 22% increase from 2019 and the highest level since at least 1990, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.