I’ve given birth to four babies- the last by midwife. Out of those four births, the only one that I would *almost* repeat is the fourth. The third OB-GYN should have been just about sued for malpractice, as my daughter’s nose was broken (my regular doctor who was on vacation said it was lucky her shoulder wasn’t separated or worse), and my pelvis was separated, due to her stupid decisions and God complex.
Who knows about the midwives in the UK, but I loved mine, and if God ever thought to be funny and give us a 5th child, I would go back to a midwife without a thought.
8 kids here - I’ve done it every which way - first w/ a male ob/gyn which was an absolute nightmare.
The next five were with mid-wives. As far as having to give birth without epideurals - that is the way to go.
My babies were so big they decided to start taking them early by inducing along with an epideural.
I did that with a female ob/gyn.