kara I'm planning on a waterbirth same as last time. Main reason I like it is that it gives me my own "space". And I had loads of GP trips last pregnancy, a ride to A&E in an ambulance and a hospital stay but none of that was considered any impediment to having a home water birth.
grey, I used hypnobirthing last time although I couldn't actually practice half the relaxation techniques because of the sickness and started it really late on (also due to the sickness). It made a massive difference - if I remembered to be relaxed during a contraction I would feel almost no pain, if I remembered a bit to late it hurt a little and if I forgot and panicked it hurt more but even then it was less than they did on diamorphine and G&A and with an epidural the first time before they'd topped the epidural up. And once I had the gas and air I had no pain whatsoever which was a complete contrast with the first time - I only realised DD2 was crowning because I happened to reach down and feel with my hand and clearly the MWs didn't think I could have got that far based on how I was as they offered me a vaginal examination! I really would totally recommend it - I birthed a 9lb3oz baby with no pushing and the post birth soreness was nothing compared with the first time.
On home vs. hospital, I felt I had much better care with my home birth than my hospital birth as the MWs were there with just me to look after and everything was very relaxed and they were respectful and seemed knowledgable. At the hospital the MWs were almost never there unless DH went to fetch them, they fabricated monitoring (I later got a copy of my hospital notes and I was shocked) and they kept going off to the Dr about every little thing (e.g. details of my birth plan, checking medication doses because I was thin) which didn;t really inspire confidence. I hope that doesn't sound like I think all hospital MWs are bad or anything - I'm just saying that being at home doesn't automatically mean "lesser" care than in hospital and in some ways due to the staffing ratio you get it is better. (And I also totally get why people might prefer a hospital birth and think there are lots of good reasons why a hospital birth can be better but as long as you are low risk and have good access to the right hospital there is no reason why home birth wouldn't be just as safe as hospital.)
lumpy, it's been much easier this time because I've already had a baby since but the first time was very difficult. Mine should have been flagged up as there being a problem at the scan I had at six weeks but the hospital just changed my dates without telling me so I knew that if the same thing happened it would show up at a dating scan (which I hadn't had the previous time due to having had the early scan) so I opted not to have the dating scan and to wait till the anomaly scan as with being so ill I felt I'd rather go through being ill not knowing than potentially go through it knowing something was wrong. I know a lot of people like to have an early scan though as reassurance so if she is worried, it could be worth her asking if she can have an early scan to check if everything is okay so far. (If the NHS won;t give one, I know that some people opt to have a private early scan instead.)