[ddk632]

I fully agree, and would hold myself responsible. I would never forgive myself.

I notice the trend of posters who support the home birth idea all had a negative experience with it, but “support it 100%”. Kind of, “it’s not for me, but if you do it and succeed, more power to you.”.

That is my attitude as well... more power to you if you succeed. But that is a risk I cannot take. I can’t even bear the thought of forcing my wife to be in labor any longer than absolutely necessary, just to satisfy some ideological convictions.

We are 34 weeks pregant with our first child at the moment and will be in a hospital equipped with state of the art NICU and the best, trusted doctor who came recommended... and an epidural (maybe valium for me, hehehe... just kidding).

There will be no horror stories from us to tell our children in the future. And if anything goes wrong, we did the utmost to be prepared and not complicate things further than they might get by themselves.

[elc]

I can’t even bear the thought of forcing my wife to be in labor any longer than absolutely necessary, just to satisfy some ideological convictions.

But what about doctors who place arbitrary deadlines on pregnancies; who push for inductions and rush labor ("Pit to distress") to accomodate their schedule; or push for c-sections if you have not delivered before they leave for the day? It happens all the time in the US. The C-section rate in this country is horrendous (and yes, I know there will be people who chime in and say if it wasn't for a section they or their baby would be dead). People seem to ignore that it's major surgery. It's no wonder people are turning more to homebirth. Too many doctors are getting in the way of a birthing.

I had a great homebirth with my 2nd (a VBAC) with well qualified midwives. What pissed me off is that they did not have oxygen on hand. But that's not their fault. The state of VA ties their hands in many ways.