HOME births are becoming more popular among expectant mothers - and one mum who had both her children at home swears by them. Helen Hunt gave birth to Oliver and Daisy in the comfort of her own Worcester home and would do the same again if she fell pregnant.

The Government wants every woman to have a choice of a home birth by 2009 provided they are medically fit to have one - mothers are still divided into high and low risk groups by hospitals.

Mrs Hunt believes that both she and her children are safer at home than in hospital where there are risks of infections such as MRSA and C.difficile.

Oliver, now two, and Daisy, one, were both born at the then family home in Nelson Road, St John's, without any complications.

Oliver had a longer birth but Daisy was born very quickly - so quickly in fact that she arrived before the midwife and it was left to Helen's husband David to deliver their daughter.

Mrs Hunt, aged 36, who now lives with her 35-year-old husband and two children in Jackdaw Lane, Droitwich, believes there are many advantages to home birth.

"We wanted them to be born in a pleasant environment," she said.

"In order to have a good labour and birth we realised the best place to be was at home. I didn't want to go into hospital when I was fit and well. My husband and I believe that having children at home is more relaxing than the sterile environment of the hospital."

Many mums would be concerned that something could go wrong but Mrs Hunt and her husband knew they were only 10 minutes from Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Newtown Road.

She added: "By the time the midwife arrived Daisy was already in our arms and we were drying her off with a towel. I was worried about the cord around the baby's neck and if the baby was going to be breathing properly. The risks did not put me off. You just have to put things into perspective. Being mentally prepared for it is half the battle. By being prepared you lessen the risk of anything unpleasant happening.

"I think the risks are smaller than having a baby in hospital where you can come away with numerous, quite awful infections."

Expectant mothers are now given a home birth kit, including suture, dressings, a resuscitation kit if the baby has problems breathing and gas and air cylinders (entonox) to reduce labour pains for the mum.

Mrs Hunt, who plans to launch a home birth support group in June, also attended 14 hours of antenatal classes.

The National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health in London recently published findings on the deaths of babies during labour or in the first week after birth.

The findings, which cover nearly 10 years (1994-2003), found that home births are generally safe but there may be serious risks if a mother opts for a home birth and then has to be transferred to hospital. The risk was greatest for intended home births where complications arose and mothers then had to go to hospital - one in 150 of those babies died.

But the findings of the report, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, have been criticised by the National Childbirth Trust, the UK's leading charity for parents.

Mary Newburn, head of policy research at NCT, said the findings were "unreliable and may be seriously misleading". The NCT says the study uses data from different, unrelated studies and databases.

In Worcestershire, about two per cent of all births are at home, lower than the national average which is about three per cent.

In the county as a whole there were 5,603 births in 2007, 109 of which were home births.

At the Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester there were 82 home births (69 planned and 13 unplanned) out of 3,908 total births.

Women in the county only have the choice of the two acute hospitals (the Royal and the Alexandra) if they want a hospital birth after the closure of the Wyre Forest Birth Centre in Kidderminster in 2003.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Ultimately, the safety of the mother and baby remains paramount. We want to ensure that women have as many choices as possible, minimising any known risk to either themselves or their baby. The choices offered should fall within the safety net of a maternity network and this is reflected in our new strategy document Maternity Matters."

Maternity Matters advocates the development of maternity, neonatal and perinatal mental health networks to ensure that all women have equal access to a range of more specialist services.

The department announced in January extra funding of £330 million for maternity services over the next three years to ensure women have the choice of home birth by 2009.

In February, the department announced a package of measures to recruit an extra 4,000 midwives to the NHS over the next three years.

Many of these will be new to the profession but there are also former midwives whose expertise could be brought back to the NHS.

The department and the Royal College of Midwives will launch a Return to Practice campaign in the summer with incentives such as free training, childcare support, travel costs and a grant of up to £1,500.

The total value of the package will be about £3,000.