Re: Need advice about choosing a hospital for birth
oh, and just quickly.... on having your child present at the birth... I think it can be a really beautiful thing. It was something I worried about at first, but my midwife said she had never seen a child get distressed at a birth, and our experience was just that. Being in our own home, they could come and go from the birth area as they chose. DS was less interested until the final moments, as he had a shorter attention span, but DSD stayed in the room most of the time, and her job was topping up the pool with warm water...
Reading stories about babies being born helps (Hello Baby is a beautiful one), talk about the sorts of things that you might be doing, etc.... We didn't have any extra support people for the kids, but we had an extra midwife. If you were going to be in a hospital setting you would probably need a support person for your child as you will be needing your partner, and your child probably won't be able to take themselves to the loo etc...at home it's a bit different as it is their own space..
The thing about child birth is that children don't have pre- conceived ideas about what it is or what might happne, and it is the people around you that really normalise it for them.... While I was in the birthing pool, I did make some noise from time to time, but our midwives were quietly sitting at the table, and DP was sitting next to the pool with his hands on me.... this really set the tone for DS and DSD.