So many people that vax and hospital birth do so as sheep not through any really thought process.
but do they? this is the same type of generalisation that many of the BB members fight against when it comes to decisions regarding HB and non Vax standpoints. It is just as easy to say that the other side of this viewpoint just read a coupe of internet blogs that supported it and decided that they liked the sound of it made a decision and and stopped researching. Further to this there are many like Maruschke and My own wife who chose Hospital birth based on the availble information, extensive reading and lengthy conversations with our OB/GP.

In my own experience, our first child was concieved throught IVF and was a great joy for My wife and I to get there after so much heartache. I was there for the FS appointments and I was there for every OB appointment and I even got to assist in the final stage of birth actually getting to pull my son out into this world and give him to his mum for his first hugs (most awesome intense moment of my entire life to date).

We peppered our OB with question after question on everything from pregnancy to all possible outcomes on birth, our experience was through Northwest Private in Brisbane with Martin D'arcy Evans as our OB and we found him to be a incredibly pragmatic doctor who offered couterpoints to his own experience and constantly reminded us that just because it usually went one way or the other didnt mean that any of it would specifically happen to us. He was definitely a "go with the flow" kind of guy. He himself even noted that in a best case scenario he would merely pop in to say hi and give my wife a quick checkup once the baby had been delivered. When asked about a possible preference for CS he laughed and pointed out that the OB's in practice at that hospital received the same fee regardless of method of delivery (I have no idea if this holds true anywhere else), that CS is a serious abdominal surgery that is best avoided unless absolutely necessary and that in the end a CS actually ties up more of his time to do rather than letting nature take it's course.

In the end the Midwifes at NW Private did basically all the monitoring and the first we saw of our OB that night was after the placenta had been delivered. The midwifes left us alone for most of the labour checking in from time to time and helping move my wife into positions that could (and did) help relieve pressure and make her comfortable. In the end my wife was able to deliver how she felt comfortable and was only "told what to do" when a midwife had to yell over her to help her to put her vocal energy into the push (hard to frame this as not being pushy but it really did help) and when our OB needed to throw a few stiches once all the excitement had died down. (this boiled down to saying, I need to give you some stiches, can you please be still for a minute while I do it) everyone was just great. I give this example to say that it is possible to have a positive experience at hospital too (my wife's opinion, and mine but hers is the relevant one here) As a side note my wife's recollection of much of her labour (no drugs bar about 5 mins of gas) was hazy at best and she could have very well been in the middle of a freeway without noticing a single car! For her the 3 hours between the contractions getting "Real" in her words (meaning actually hurt quite a bit!) to having our son went a lot faster than she thought. She was shocked when I told her the time once we were resting. Her story is here https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ng-130058.html

I suppose that sometimes I have had the impression that the HB movement implies that a woman will have a greatly diminished experience if she choses to birth at hospital and that it almost guarantees a deprivation of basic human rights which was not my wifes experience. Looking back on our experience despite being positive it can seem almost irellevant compared to the sustained experience that is parenting, definitely a high point but the constant stream of every day experiences with our son trumps it time and time again.