Yes- we have a home from home unit and also a lot of our women have met their midwives before labour because we are moving to that sort of system. Normal births and home births increased by a lot, and also need for epidural decreased. Physiologically, any kind of stress response will inhibit labour which is why the contractions usually go off for a while once you get into hospital! To be honest, I think the answer is more small birth units and also home assessment in labour with the option to choose to have baby at home at that point if you want to, or go in to hospital. It means that the onus on women to choose place of birth so early on is taken away- and many women do a lot better in labour than they think they will and then opt to stay at home, but if you don't have that option, you choose the 'safe' one because a lot of women think it's homebirht with no pain relief and if anything goes wrong You and Your Baby Will Die, or Nice Safe Hospital, when actually it's a lot more mundane than that; if you change your mind you can always transfer in!