For my first daughter, Lily, I planned a homebirth. I don't like hospitals and I certainly didn't feel ill. I didn't even really like the routine monitoring and scanning offered in pregnancy. It always felt to me as if people were looking for things to go wrong.

I did my research, was encouraged by women I'd met at the local homebirth support group and the information and stories I found on websites and an online discussion group. With my homebirth 'booked', I was excited and waited for 'the day'.