I know how you feel, I'm going through a similar thing. Most of my friends & acquaintences think I'm crazy for planning a homebirth. Anyone I mention it to thinks it's their job to tell me how risky it is, and ask me if I have a back-up OB. Some people are really awful. But I also have some support.. my DH is wonderful, and his MIL is wary of doctors and thinks I'm doing well to avoid them altogether, and some of DH's cousins who live in the Baltimore/Annapolis area have had homebirths- they're all into natural living and all that. In fact, some of his cousins are irritating on the other side of things- they've been telling me that I need to stay home with the baby for 4 whole years- which is completely impossible for me (darned student loans). They don't seem to understand that not everyone can do that... but at least they are supportive of my plans for a homebirth and attached parenting style.
I have been living in Baltimore for a while, but am now in DC and planning to high tail it out to Seattle before I have the baby (with DH). I sense that there is more support for natural birth out there, but most of my pregnancy is spent here!
My mom had a natural childbirth when I was born but she did it in a hospital with a very supportive OB (who had delivered her 25 years earlier!). At first she was very concerned about me not going to a hospital, and was trying to convince me to at least go to a birthing center. I personally know myself and know that I'll be most comfortable at home, and I'll labor & birth better there (with a midwife!) than anywhere else. Getting her to watch the Business of Being Born helped a lot- she realized that things are different now than when she had me. No one tried to give her pitocin or an IV. When she told her doctor "I don't think I can do it" when the labor got rough he said, "I know you can." How many doctors do you hear about who say that? They now say, "do you want an epidural?"
My next door neighbor in Baltimore is a doctor and just had her baby.. I haven't seen her yet because she's coming back from the hospital today (after a cesarean) but her DH & mine spoke last weekend. When I first talked to her about childbirth her attitude was much different than mine, she was planning an epidural and all the bells and whistles in the hospital from the very beginning, and she looked at me like I was crazy when I said "natural birth at home with midwife." She ended up with a c-section due to "failure to progress." I think that scenario is much more common than the dire scenario that everyone is afraid of with my homebirth... but people have too much faith in needles & doctors and not enough in ourselves.
Sorry for the rant- it's nice to hear about someone with a similar situation in the MD area!
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