Home birth?
Are you NUTS???
Dude! My first son came so fast I didn't have TIME to get drugs. I went through the worst of it in the back seat of a CHEVETTE!!! I don't remember WHY we thought it would be a good idea for me to ride in the back of a small car with my husband ... but I threw up all over my mother who was driving. Whew! That was bad enough. The baby was crowning less than an hour after we got to the hospital. The only 'pain killers' I got was a shot of local anesthetic to Sew UP the episiotomy. Heck! I was in so much pain, I didn't even feel them cut me. NOT what I would call an "Enjoyable" experiance.
Second time around, the baby just didn't want to come. He was happy where he was. I went to my regular check up - a week and a half after my due date - and the doctor asked "Are you feeling any pain?" - No - Then he told me that I was 3 centemeters dialated and the baby was on the way. I should go to the hospital and get ready to have him. We got there... no pains. They did everything they could think of, but no labor. Then they started the "PIT" drip and the labor pains hit like a ton of bricks. They couldn't get that little Indian lady in there with the epidural fast enough! After that - it was a BREEZE!!! Man, I loved it! I was awake and feeling no pain. I was happily joking around with the entire staff. It was GREAT!!! We even have it all on Video Tape. (It's a nice, descrete shot over my shoulder, you don't see any of the 'icky' parts.) LOL! You DO see the doctor take his hand and rake that yellow cheesy mess off my son and then sling it on the floor.
He explained that it's a coating to keep the baby's skin from getting all shriveled up in the water of the womb. That and the blood is what the nurses are actually 'cleaning up' when they first take the baby away.
When the nurses first held the baby up for me to see and unwrapped him, my son's first act in life was to pee all over my chest. It just made me laugh, which made the nurses laugh as well. They said "We know the Kidneys work!"
So - Stefan - You got a baby yet???