No, indeed Mother Goose - I'm sure that it might be a very different story after the birth!

Thanks also to Jule Doula. I must admit that I never really thought about the possibility of employing a midwife/doula and then getting them to stay out of the way so thank you for raising that option (not for this one but maybe if I have another). It's nice to have another perspective on things.

When I've been reading about the positives of employing your own midwife/doula, it's usually all around the fact that you get to know your midwife beforehand, she stays with you during the labour etc. which as I said earlier just did not appeal at all. No offence to the sisterhood intended! But someone next-door doing a jigsaw as my little security blanket - now you're talking!

By the way Julie Doula, I'm going to be on a Girls Weekend Away in Warburton this weekend. My friends will be under strict instructions that in the VERY unlikely event that I go into labour VERY prematurely to get on to bellybelly straight away and find the Julie Doula chick! BYO jigsaw!

Their usual response to any type of physical crisis is to a)double up with laughter or b)tell the person to stop embarrassing them so they wll be absolutely useless should the baby make an early appearance.