The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

First-Time Moms Ideal Candidates for Homebirth

First-time moms are much less likely to have the more serious complications of placental retention and postpartum hemorrhage because the uterine muscle tone is better in a first-time mom.

The "problems" they are more likely to have are that their labors may take a little longer. This is more of a problem in the hospital, where they like to see your labor progress at a certain rate and can get aggressive with interventions if your body doesn't naturally keep things moving along. (Which is made harder with all that pressure. Alas. The increased probability for a first-time mom to end up with pitocin or an epidural and eventually a cesarean might actually make the hospital a significantly more dangerous place for a first-time mom than one having a second or third.)

So, the "problems" with first-time moms are likely to be that things are "taking too long", either labor or pushing. Fortunately, that isn't an emergency. It might mean that you end up transporting to the hospital, but it's not going to be life threatening.

Really, it's hard for me to imagine why anyone would say that homebirth isn't appropriate for first-time moms? If anything, you know they aren't having a VBAC. And if they plan a homebirth with the first, they reduce their chance of a cesarean, which can make it harder to plan a homebirth with your second.