I'm sorry about the spelling mistakes Clarabelle; that's a really important point and indicative of the level at which you operate. And I am not in any way criticising YOUR practice because I have no idea how YOU operate. You have however got a lot of the characteristics of the obsessional blinkered ancilliary health worker that I utterly detest. You are much more concerned with your obessions about what "you" see as the best way of doing things. And you have the chacteristic knee jerk "I hate doctors" approach to medical care. What you don't understand, becuase your eyes are closed, is that it is possible for doctors and midwives to work together to improve health care. You want to have some sort of amatuer night in the birthing pool; you clearly don't understand the issues surrounding safety. The post I did was not in any case addressed to you, though you are welcome to read it. It is of course entirely typical of your sort of approach that you entirely ignored the reasonable suggestion of the midwife managed pregancy with the delivery taking place in hospital. Your lack of understanding of the real interaction of smoking and asthma does not stop you from presenting your rabid views as thought they were gospel. What you need to learn is that so much of medicine is about compromise, about finding a reasonable course of action in difficult and conflicting circumstances, of exercising judgement, of working with colleagues both senior and junior, and of working with colleagues in different disciplines. You are not interested in health care for women and babies; you are interested in the political issue of "home births" and you will adapt the data to buttress your position. You do not have the skills to resuscitate babies and mothers, and you do not carry the equipement so to do. It may not be politically correct to say this in your little world, but the fact is, you need a doctor, and a pretty skilled one at that, to do it. You also need a lot of equipment. I think that airhostesses are lovely people, they have lots of time to spend with the passengers, and they are jolly good at showing people how to put the life jackets on. But I don't want them flying the plane, and I don't want you delivering babies without a doctor with all the appropriate equipmant being available. You don't understand that, and that is the problem. And pointing out my spelling mistakes does not help your case. It is dumbing down the health service. Just who is flying the plane? http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2005/12/who-is-flying-up-your-backside.html