For those that were following the comment threads on my BBA post.

The NICE Guidelines have been published.

Interesting idea about birthing pools - and if someone can point me to the evidence that they are superb, rather than an infection risk, I'd be grateful.

There is a campaign site for normal birth. Something that I would agree should be everyone's choice.

The only thing that I'm not sure about with this emphasis on 'choice' is that there are a fair numberof people out there who I don't think are really competent to make an informed choice. If people are daft enough or self-deluding enough to get pregnant and not realise it, then can we really say that every mother is clever enough to make an informed choice.

But then this is where the skill of being a midwife comes in. Much as I urge some people that I meet about their healthcare choices.