Hey mitford,
if you have a strong birth partner you can get the birth you want (as long as it's safe) at the hospital, like madcatz last week, all I needed was arm, no prostaglandins or drip. I did have a moment with one midwife and one obstetrician, mw transfering me to labour room said we are going to take your bloods and put you on the drips while we do it, cheeky cow did this while my husband fetched my doula. I said I'm the most common bloodtype and I am not having the synoxytocin, she said 'do you understand what iol is' I said yes, have you read the birth plan, she said, forget the birth plan, I then asked her if she was to be my mw during labour, she wasn't so I firmly told her to off. All went well until the shift change, I was 8cm at that point, new obstetrician turned up and said if you aren't pushing when I get back in an hour, we will give you an epidural so we can perform a c-section, I think you are too small to push out this baby. Through my hormone haze I managed to be
lucid enough to say I didn't go through the last 8 hours for you to pull my baby out, he said, you don't like doctors do you, I said well I like mw's go away and let us get on with things. He still managed to try and offer me gas and air, an epidural and forced a drip for dehydration on me, sure he only did it to try and me used to being less mobile. Mw's didn't let h back in for the rest of the labour.Needless to say he didn't congratulate me on my successful vb of a 9.5 pound baby, but every me other than the evil one did, including the consultant mw.
If you know what you want and have an informed, supportive birth partner, my doula wad amazing, you will be fine wherever you labour and however it starts.
Goodluck!