It's difficult to say without knowing the scenario. Often management of labour means predisposition to postpartum haemorrhage (PPH)- eg speeded up labours, instrumental delivery, caesarean section, long labour (often due to malposition of baby, due to sedentary lifestyle of the woman antenatally) etc. Also mismanagement of the delivery of placenta. So sometimes women will have PPH that they wouldn't have had, if they'd had less medicated or medicalised labour (eg you have an epidural, and end up with forceps, as a result (epidural increases risk of instrumental delivery) and you have a PPH as a result of needing your labour augmented and the inevitable episiotomy...) In which case it MAY have been that in some womens' cases, if they'd been at home they wouldn't have bled in the first place. That, and sometimes the perception of things is not as it seems- Women have said to me that they lost a lot of blood, nearly died etc, but it turned out it was 300ml and it just seems like a lot of blood when it isn't if you are used to it! Not disputing your friends' stories but it's not usual for LOTS of women to have a PPH (I've seen 2 in 5 years, both following precipitate labours).