It seems some people confuse having a home birth with shunning all medical assistance, pre and post natally. We are planning on a homebirth for #2, where for #1 we had a scheduled c/s because of placenta praevia. This was picked up at u/s at 20 weeks, then again at 32 and 37 weeks. I fully intend to take advantage of the same level of prenatal care (probably better, because I'll have a midwife who personally visits me at home throughout the pg), complete with blood tests, GD tests and u/s. If there's something that means I or the baby will need medical assistance beyond what can be offered at home then I'll book myself into the hospital (which I was very happy with for #1, btw, so it's not always a choice following a traumatic experience).

I just will not take the short drive to hospital during or after labour unless something happens to cause my midwife to think it's necessary. As I've pointed out to DP, if I was labouring in the hospital birth suites and something went wrong, it's not like they whip the ob and anaesthetist into your suite and perform a c/s right there. Everyone needs to be called in and you have to be prepped and taken to surgery. I may as well be spending the 10 mins riding over in an ambulance (with everyone getting ready at the other end anyway) as waiting in the corridors...

Plus, there's the fact that I'm far less likely to have something go wrong during labour while I'm comfortable at home without pressure and intervention, so less likely to need that emergency c/s anyway.