LAer, there are two type of epidurals. One is a walking epirdural which allows you to move around from the waste down. Many hospitals dont even offer walking epidurals so yes most epidurals that laboring women receive do not allow them to have any sensation in their legs and walk around.
I cut and pasted a study from Canada below. go to to see full study http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/181/6-7/377 for the full text. While it doesnt compare specifics of epidurals, it compares hosiptal births attended by doctors, hospital births attended by midwives, and homebirths attended by midwives.
Methods: We included all planned home births attended by registered midwives from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2004, in British Columbia, Canada (n = 2889), and all planned hospital births meeting the eligibility requirements for home birth that were attended by the same cohort of midwives (n = 4752). We also included a matched sample of physician-attended planned hospital births (n = 5331). The primary outcome measure was perinatal mortality; secondary outcomes were obstetric interventions and adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.
Results: The rate of perinatal death per 1000 births was 0.35 (95% confidence interval [CI] [RR]
Interpretation: Planned home birth attended by a registered midwife was associated with very low and comparable rates of perinatal death and reduced rates of obstetric interventions and other adverse perinatal outcomes compared with planned hospital birth attended by a midwife or physician.