To birth at home or the hospital...that is the question (27 weeks 6 days)

My latest obsession has been about whether or not I want to think about giving birth at home. I can't decide if this is a totally crazy idea or possibly the sanest thing I'll have done in a very long time. Before I ever got pregnant I knew I wanted to use a midwife because I felt that I would be more likely to get the birthing experience that I wanted than with a tradition OB. So for the last six months I have been going to my midwives and I have to say it really doesn't feel any different from going to the doctor. I still go to the big office, have to wait half an hour, have nurses take my vitals and urine and then spend all of two minutes talking to the midwife of the day. Since it's a whole practice I see a different midwife every time and you never know which one will be on call the day you go into labor...why am I doing this again?

While I'm frustrated with my current situation, and am not seeing the benefits to having a midwife at the moment, I do believe that once I'm actually in labor there will be a difference in having the midwife there versus an OB (at least this is what I hear from other people). However, at the same time, I feel that just by the nature of having to go to the hospital and giving birth there I still won't exactly have the experience that I want. I want to be able to walk around during labor if that makes me feel better, shower, take a hot bath...whatever it may be, and those things most certainly won't be options at the hospital. I also don't like the idea of so many unfamiliar faces starting down my privates every hour and during delivery. People give birth at home with one midwife and maybe a doula all the time so why do hospitals insist on a bajillion nurses being there, and traipsing in and out? And you're in labor so long that with the change of shifts you've had 20 different strangers staring you down by the time it's all over.

So now I've been looking into private midwives in the area and am really considering home birth. While there is definitely a risk that goes along with it, I'm not so sure the risk is really any greater than being in the hospital (since we all know that comes with its own risks). I truly feel that being in a relaxed and comfortable environment will help resolve a lot of the little things that go wrong during a hospital birth. It also helps that we live approximately 5 minutes away from the hospital so if something really did go wrong we'd be there in a flash. I have a bajillion questions for this new midwife when she emails me back and I'm hoping to shed a lot of light on my current dilemma. Part of me can't envision feeling comfortable doing it at home and the other part of my can't envision feeling 100% comfortable in the hospital either. I'm hoping for some omens/signs in the near future to help me make a decision that I feel totally comfortable with!