Thanks Alan for your honest reply. I was hoping to hear from you. I'm so pleased to hear that you can't see any reason not to have the local. I think I'll contact the midwives & see what they say - maybe then they can at least have warning & know about it in advance. I'll have a great support person with me too, so if it all needs to be explained when the time comes, I'm confident that she will be able to fill them in & get them to understand.