I'm 20 weeks and currently live in Sydney but we are moving to the Blue Mountains in the next 2 months. I've been trying to find an independent midwife so that I can birth at home... but because I'm halfway already and bub is due right around New Year, so far no one I've contacted is available.

I've managed to find one, Sydney-based MW who is willing to travel to the mountains and support a homebirth provided I'm "low risk". The thing is, she is an 'eligible' MW and as such, collaborates with an OB at Westmead hospital. My understanding of this arrangement means that the OB gets the over-riding say over whether I can birth at home. Last pregnancy I was borderline for gestational diabetes and, despite perfectly managing my blood sugars throughout the entire third trimester, and delivering a perfect-for-dates sized bub (3kg), my private OB tried to frighten and then force me into an induction. So I'm pretty wary of decisions of risk being made using standard norms rather than taking into account my individual case (not to mention preferences!)

I don't know what to do... go with the available MW where there's a chance I can home-birth but risk having to again birth at hospital (and at that, a hospital that's 50-odd km's from where we'll be living).

What would you do? Go with one of the local public hospitals and hire a doula? Or go with the Sydney-based MW?

Thanks for your thoughts,