yay! It's getting busy in here. Welcome Emmajane, and big hugs to my buddy, cherished - it's lovely to see you in here. I felt a bit sad reading your comment that number 2 might not happen I really hope that isn't the case. In relation to fears about something going wrong at home - I have always had total faith and trust in my body and my midwives. I agree with the comment (by HotI?) that an issue or problem may actually get picked up quicker at home where you are one -on- one with a midwife. My current midwife carries with her : hand-held doppler, syntocinon, oxygen with bag and mask for neo-natal resus, IV fluids, and non-emergency equip like urinary catheters, local anaesthetic and suturing material. I live 5 mins drive from our local base hospital.
Hello Eutra! I hope you are well, and in labour as I type! Happy, peaceful birthing. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Hello to everyone else.
Arte, I have been thinking of you lately because my midwife trained and worked in NZ before coming to Australia. The NZ system sounds awesome.

I finally had my first appt. with my midwife. She is wonderful and fabulous- and it was love at first sight! hehehehe.....which is a relief because I was getting desperate and couldn't have handled the possibilty that we would not gel. She is highly professional and organised - which is important to me. She said that it takes her an hour to get to my house, so she wants me to call her as soon as I go in labour. I really admire her as a person too - she does volunteer work as a midwife in third world countries - some of her stories/experiences are amazing. can you tell that I really like her?! The cost is 3 grand - which is a relief, as that is the amount that DH and I had set aside. So, it's all good in my neck of the woods