Wow, i know you guys are envious that the NHS does homebirths for free in the UK, but if i HAD decided to get my own midwife to do my birth (and gotten the one-on-one care i'd have loved) it would have been about 3000-5000 GBP! A LOT more expensive! Also we don't get the baby bond or anything like it. Those on benefits get 250-500GBP for big baby items like pram/cot etc. but you have to be in reciept of a particular benefit to qualify. We qualified for both the benefit and the lump sum but because the department that processed the benefit took 6 months to look at our claim the window of opportunity closed and i didn't get a penny. I think the UK theory works better than the practice!

DP gets medical with his new job and we're secretly hoping they'll pay for a homebirth midwife. If they do i'd CERTAINLY get a private middie, though i'd go NHS again no worries before i paid out of pocket. There's a difference between someone who supports your wishes and someone who is paid to support your wishes...

Bx