This is one of the things I'm afraid of. I LOATHE strangers in my personal space, especially at such an important time. I think I've also read too many stories about bullying, insensitive midwives....
tashy, I'm VERY protective of my personal space. I've been known to leave the table at a dinner party and go into another room for half an hour so I can be on my own. I refuse to share a room on girls weekends away with people I've known for nearly 20 years because I just like to be on my own ... so I hear you.

Having said that, it's hard to predict how you're going to be in a hospital. It's a different kettle of fish. All the people coming in are coming in to look after you in some way and hey, it's always nice to be the centre of attention. When I'm not in my anti-social freak mode, I'm in full-on chatterbox mode so I kind of liked having people pop in, in short doses - but it did mean I didn't rest but you're left relatively alone in the arvos from memory. That's one of the reasons I banned visitors - I average 2-3 hours sleep per night in hospital and really need some time during the day to catch up a bit.

No-one can guarantee you perfect midwives - usually there are good and bad in most hospitals but the hospital I recommended to you did seem to have really lovely ones except for a couple of contract ones on the night shift. And even they weren't even that bad just not the angels they had on the day shift.