Congrats! You’ll probably get a lot of people suggesting a midwife and home birth, but you can use a midwife at a hospital too. If things were more ideal for my 3rd (I’m doing VBAC and can’t find anyone who will work with me..) I would be using a midwife at the hospital. The last doctor I saw said they’d let me skip the baby’s vitamin k shot, circumcision, hep c shot, and eye cream (as long as I didn’t have an infection that would make eye antibiotic necessary it’d be fine). They were fine with delayed cord clamping too, you should look into that. I made a birth plan and printed it out, gave it to the doctor and have another copy to take to the hospital with me that specifically states what I’m not comfortable with and what I want them to do. She should avoid them rushing the baby too unless there’s a problem, doctors like to give Pitocin and similar drugs to speed up a birth but they can be dangerous for her and the baby. Sometimes it’s needed but use caution with that. Doctors like to medically intervene too much instead of allowing things to happen naturally. But it’s nice to have them around in case of emergency too. Here is a copy and pasted thing I made of advice on how to avoid BS from doctors. If you want I can give you a copy of my birth plan too. Knowing her rights going in is the best thing to keep her and the baby safe. This list will help with my specific situation where I was forced to have surgery but might help in other situations of malpractice: I'm having another baby soon too and expect them to try to force surgery again because of the way they cut me last time, I'm not technically a good candidate for VBAC. My first c section was forced. I was naieve and trusted doctors when that happened to me. If I’d known my rights that could have been avoided. Here are some things I've learned that will help me avoid another forced surgery and other nonsense, advice for your wife: 1. Keep your phone charged and with you at all times, at your side at the hospital. Bring a charger. Record on your phone, there are voice recorder apps that run in the background. Call police if you have to. 2. Don't sign consent forms for surgery if you don't want it, even if they yell at you and make it seem like the only way out of the room is to sign them. Them saying you have no choice is a lie unless they have a court order, do NOT sign if you don’t want it. I tried to sign using my maiden name to trick them into letting me out of the room since I was supposed to use my real name but it wasn't enough for a lawyer to help me, and once I signed it no one else in the hospital cared I was yelling for them not to. If you refuse to sign they can get in trouble, they don't want to be sued. 3. Use legal terms with them. Yelling at someone, saying they need to sign consent forms and have no choice is called consent under duress*. Refusing medical treatment while being aware of the risks is called informed refusal. If you want to leave ask to sign an AMA form (against medical advice form) so the doctors won't be liable for letting you leave under their care, that way they won't panic about possibly getting sued. 4. Bring up the American College of Gynecology's view on forced medical treatment, which you can find here: https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2016/06/refusal-of-medically-recommended-treatment-during-pregnancy 5. Have someone with you at all times, don't let them leave your room. Have them bring food and drink, if they smoke ask them use a nicotine patch or nicotine gum. If you're not allowed to have someone in your room, or want extra people just in case then have a video chat going. Discuss your concerns and the legal terms with them so they can call for help if they need to. 6. I'm not 100% sure on this one but have heard you can ask for a hep lock/j loop IV instead of being attached to the IV stand. That way you can move around easier during labor/birth which is a good excuse to ask for it, but it'll also allow you to walk out of the hospital if you need to. I didn't walk out because I was stuck to an IV. An epidural would get you stuck too but I wouldn't recommend those anyway. When I had my first baby I had an epidural and it fell out when I started pushing and damaged the nerves in my back. I told some mom friends I have and a few of them said they had nerve damage from an epidural too, apparently that's pretty common. *definition of duress: threats, violence, constraints, or other action brought to bear on someone to do something against their will or better judgment I hope I didn't freak you out. Having a baby is worth the risks, and now that you have this information you'll be able to protect yourself. If I'd known all this I could have avoided being forced into surgery. That hospital took advantage of me because I didn't know how to handle the situation. Doctors might try to pressure women and their families into certain things but you’re legally allowed to decline any form of medical treatment.