Hi I would love to have some advice from other mums with experience of homebirth with Brierley or Oakwood, also those ones who ended up having a hospital birth at kings after planning a homebirth. I am trying to take a decision between hospital birth and homebirth. I am really an advocate of homebirth as for me it is really important to know the midwife who is going to be with you in labour, but also the hospital and all the equipment in case of emergency is something to take into account too. I remember talking to people registered with the Albany midwives that were going to have a hospital birth but they already met their midwive. I think that Oakwood also supports that (although I am not completely sure) empowering women to have the birth they want (wherever they want with someone they trust). After long thinking I have decided to have a homebirth, although it is very early stages I am trying to decide whether to register with Oakwood or Brierley, but a lot of people also told me that through different stages of pregnancy you feel differently so I am wondering if I meet my midwife and I feel is the right person, what would happen if in the last month or last minute I just "freak out" about homebirth and suddenly decide to go to the hospital, would the woman desert me because of "chickening out" or would she support me and stay with me all the way to the end and deliver my baby? I have this ideal image of how wonderful a homebirth would be but I would also hate the idea that if in the last minute (or late pregnancy I feel scared) they would just leave me suddenly on my own. Has anyone got recent experience with Brierley or Oakwood?
