I wanted a home birth, I read the magazines, quizzed the midwifes (who sniffed at the idea) and researched the matter as much as I could. In the end pressure from family, friends and midwifes made me opt for the hospital .. thank God! Everything was fine and wonderful and would have been so much better in the comfort of my own home, until the babies heart unexpectedly decided to stop beating. There was no time to administer an anaesthetic for a caesarean section, so they hovered him out using a ventouse. Something very similar happened with the next birth too. Luckily in both cases the baby was successfully resuscitated. In both cases there would never have been enough time to get to the hospital from home, yet there had been no indications of a problem during the pregnancy or the labour, which in my opinion makes home delivery far more of a risk, and one I'm so glad I was talked out of.