Despite the fact that my partner has a child from a previous relationship and despite his assurances to the contrary, I think he too will be squeamish when it comes to the actual birth. That's OK because to my mind, he's there to support ME, not to look at what's happening down the business end. The midwives/doctors can do that.

Now he might not be very good with blood and gore but he is VERY good at being assertive, asking the right questions and spotting medical baloney when he hears it. So, his job will be to make sure that I'm either not pressured into loads of interventions or if it turns out I actually can't cope with the pain, to track down that pain relief as quickly as possible.

Luckily, I don't think that he will be too fussed at seeing me in pain so I won't need to tone down my screams for fear of freaking him out!