Anna is going to be there to help me negotiate the minefield, and also be a support person for Mark if he needs it. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page if you’d like more information about what a doula does.
I’ve just spoken to Sandra (sadly blogless, but a regular at SSK) who kindly talked me through the choices of care available, and explained some jargon – like the difference between team care and caseload care in a birthing unit. Sandra was very reassuring, and I now feel a lot less panicked about the whole situation. She validated my choices, and made me feel like I’m not crazy. I wish I had spoken to her much earlier!
I am thinking that Hornsby Hospital is looking good, but since they don’t accept bookings until 14 weeks, I have a while to make up my mind. Anna is coming over to meet us on sunday morning, and once we’ve sorted things out with her, hopefully she can help me make the right choices. And since she is neither a midwife nor an obstetrician, she has nothing invested in the outcomes that I choose.
I even managed to get some washing and some shopping done today. But now I am taking to my bed.
Disco Knitter 
A doula! Lucky you. I had very clinical births, very medically controlled with no room for innovation or improvisation at all.
Don’t listen to too many people. Find someone you trust and read as much as possible so you can make your own mind up. Every woman is different, every birth experience is different and so is every baby.
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Sigh….sounds like you are on the right track for you! Lovely.
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Since I have zero experience in that area (and i think babies are parasites LOL) i’ll not say anything.
Except YAY! Another person to make funky baby clothes for! (Please dont dress your baby in Prosti-tot clothes! LOL)
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Being a man, and a gay one at that, I can’t give much in the way of advice, but congrats on the doula… an option you might want to consider for birth would be to find the baby under a toad stool – it has worked well for many thousands of years for the fairy folk, and who am I to break with tradition?
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