Thanks for checking in! Yes, I've had the baby, as you can tell by the ungodly hour of this post.
He arrived Sunday, a week past his due date. Being overdue was no fun after a tough pregnancy, but it did mean Covid cases had come down quite dramatically since the beginning of January, which helped with my anxiety.
In the end I had a pretty good birth experience and was able to go to the midwife-led birthing centre, which was very quiet - we were in a huge room with a birthing pool and were able to stay in the room for several hours after the birth and then moved to a small recovery room with three beds, but no one else there. This was a big contrast to my first birth on the labour ward where I had to spend quite a few horrible sleepless nights on a busy ward.
I had good care, and don't think it was affected by the pandemic at all in terms of staffing - I had a lovely midwife and student and when there was a bit of a scary moment when the baby's shoulders got stuck, the room instantly filled up with people on hand to help (most of them apparently just as a precaution, but baby was fortunately totally fine).
My husband was able to be there the whole time, apart from when I was initially checked out on the assessment unit after my waters broke (I was then sent home for a few hours before contractions started). We were lucky enough not to have to stay the night, but if we had, I would have been alone. I did feel the discharge part was slightly rushed, as they were trying to get us out before visiting hours ended, which was a little nerve-wracking, but fine in the end. In theory, my husband wasn't supposed to leave and come back, even to take the bags to the car, but they let him when they realised he would need to fetch the car seat (and surely, so does everyone?!)
Re home births, my trust is Kings in London and I believe they are still offering home births here, although I didn't want one myself.