Forgetful

I had Be broadband. It was top rated by Which? Quite cheap (?7.50 or so for 8MB; you can pay more for higher speed) and very good service. You need to have a BT line, though. My BT line was crap so had to switch everything to Virgin (not Be's fault). No problem so far.

Sillywoman, I must disagree. There was nothing else going on. A uterine rupture is a serious emergency situation. Yes, it sometimes may work out with a minimum of stress (as in your example) or sometimes it may not (as in our case). But it does require immediate medical attention. To say "that was your experience" is not really an argument. The point is that it could be your experience, too. I stand by my belief that, while you may want to try a VBAC, you need to be in a hospital for it. Sorry, snowboarder, for alarmist language but I think that in this case the alarm needs to be sounded. Again, a rupture is a small risk (though greater than people think), but why take the risk of having one in a home birth situation? I think it is irresponsible (again, sorry if I am direct about it). Here is another take on it. http://www.birthstories.com/stories/complications-with-babies/uterine-rupture-and-vbac-why-take-the-risk-1358/ NB: as for the obligatory depiction of the U.S. medical system as a heartless capitalist system ("money-based"), let's not forget that the NHS is money-based, too. The difference is that access is simply regulated by the government bureaucrats, who are the paymaster. I've had experiences with both systems as well as with a couple on the Continent. The NHS can be just as heartless - if not more - as the others. Of course, the NHS is state religion in the UK so no use getting into a debate about it. And there is a huge amount of ignorance in this country about the U.S. system, fed by biased reporting.

My wife had a VBAC and suffered a rupture. I wouldn't recommend a VBAC to anybody. Despite being on a ward at a major hospital with a heart monitor and one on one monitoring by a midwife, our son nearly died. He was not breathing at birth and suffered several seizures, which can be indicative of brain damage. He seems to have come through ok (though we won't know for sure for a while), but I think you'll understand if I say that it was a less than ideal experience. The highly experienced obstretrician who cared for us decided never to do VBAC again. Indeed, it is not done at all in most of the U.S. To do it without monitoring or outside of a hospital is the height of idiocy. If something goes wrong, you do not have much time. If my wife weren't monitored (or wasn't in a hospital), she and the baby would be dead. It was all a blur to me, but I do remember the panic as the medical team raced to get the baby out, the baby being artificially respirated, the days in the ICU,,,, Yes, a rupture happens seldom, but it is not worth the risk.