I'm starting to look int NCT (National Childbirth Trust) Courses, but they're all quite a distance away by the looks of things. I'll e-mail them tonight, but I know if we have to drive a half-hour to the course DH will pooh-pooh the idea, especially when they cost £104! That's about AU$250, and we get free NHS courses in November-December time.

I'll also look into active birth centres - I'm looking at going to Crowborough, who can't do inductions, forceps, ventouse, accelerations or caesarians; they're 12 miles from my hospital, which is 2 miles from home but anyway; they seem to be OK with drug-free stuff, but I can't find much more info without giving them a call, which I will be doing later this week!

I don't know if I'm altogether happy to pay someone to watch me scream in pain (LOL, clearly that's not the Doula job description), but it is worth a thought if I can't talk DH round.