Maternity hospitals

[Karen Kelsey]

In one of my ancestor's letters, Carolina Olsson refers to her pregnancy and impending delivery.  She and Lars Olsson had just gotten married the previous year, so they hadn't saved much money and they considered themselves poor.  They lived in Stockholm, and the letter is dated in mid-1892.  No one has found evidence of the birth of this child, but I know that it was a boy, and he died.  Carolina tells about her fears for the delivery and says, I have to go to a maternity  
hospital this time, it is too costly to give birth at home. It sounds awful, but it has to work, it doesn't cost anything there.  Can anyone tell me about these maternity hospitals - were they established as a place for the indigent to give birth?  Why did it cost so much to deliver at home - were midwives expensive?  Compared to today's hospital costs, it surprised me that a maternity hospital would have been more expensive, but I guess it probably involved very little privacy or expertise.  Where were these maternity hospitals?  If she gave birth in one that was away from her home parish, would the birth have been recorded in the parish where the hospital was located?  Maybe that is why we've never found a birth registration for this infant (August 1892 birth, and death soon after).