Mmmm, it's interesting re. the whole forceps/c-section thing. I had a four hour second stage, with a malpositioned and posterior baby. Ob let me go on my own (with midwife support, he was just in the background) for almost three hours before he got ansty. Even then he didn't rush into anything. Ventouse was eventually tried a number of times, but my bubba wasn't moving, he was seriously stuck! Eventually forceps were called for, and with them and some almighty pushes DS was born. The middies all said that any other Ob would have had me in theatre, that I was lucky to have him. I never thought before that that was because of anyone's reluctance to use forceps, but maybe that was what they meant. I think time-frame would have had something to do with it too.

Um, yeah, I would definitely prefer a birth without intervention, but I was glad the forceps were around for my DS's birth, and it was far from a traumatic experience, I loved every minute of it!