I had massive dramas with my mum too, to the point that we barely spoke for weeks before the birth and rarely saw her after too - she was so hurt that I didn't want extra people there. I asked that she not even wait outside, as I was worried she'd try to get in, she made jokes with her friend and they pretended in front of me what they would do when I was in labour. Mum even told me her friend thought I was a ***** for not allowing her to be there. I also wanted to spend time after the birth bonding as a new family, just the three of us as I knew they'd all be excited and all want to jump in and hold the baby. I also didn't want people waiting outside with all this anticipation and expectation for it all to be over soon, I knew I would get anxious with people waiting especially if it took a while. And we all know anxiety slows progress...

I think sometimes their behaviour and reactions to your wishes puts you off - the way she reacted to me was very childish in the things she did and said, so I definitely didn't want to deal with that in labour.