That is a lot to think about. If you start with a vaginal delivery will
you know or feel if things are to difficult or do you not know the
extent of the injury until afterwards?

I'm wondering if you can explain to the doc and just try the vaginal but
switch to a section if you start feeling like things are not going
smoothly. Of course - that depends on if you can actually feel the
injury before/during and not just after.

Well I did last time, but the thing is, I seem to have fast labours, DS
was 1.5 hrs 1st stage, 16mins pushing. DD, was still fast in the grand
scheme of things, I didn't really have any warning of labour, just hit
transition straight away, I was already in the hospital and was up to
delivery in 15 mins or so, already vomitting and shaking, I was 6cm, 2
hours later I was fully dilated, but may well have been for up to an
hour given how I was feeling. But it was heading towards 2.5hours in 2nd
stage when I finally got her out and there were clear warning signs, I
was asking the midwives to call the doctors, but they were clock
watchers and didn't until the two hour mark, by which stage we were
pretty much at the point of no return and they just hung around in the
room to see things did continue to progress. From what I'm reading about
birth in the US, the nurse can have a lot of influence on what goes on,
sometimes to the extent of going against doctors orders, not calling
them even if they've been ordered to if certain things happen for
example, I know that is probably extreme, but I have a hard time putting
myself into the hands of a stranger as in my mind that is a lot of what
went wrong last time and as far as I can tell finding an ob doesn't
equate to having someone you know in the delivery room, I read somewhere
that the average attendence rate at births for obs was 30% and if you
are unlucky and get the nurse who things she knows best etc.

For that reason we've already booked a midwife, I think they will give
me the best chance at a happy, healthy pregnancy and if I do birth
vaginally I want someone like that present, it's just that the way
everything is with midwives and doctors, it makes deciding in labour
harder, though it is something I will talk through with them.

I've already decided if there is a malposition I will almost certainly
go for a c-section, though I may get a scan and check the AFI as low AFI
was probably part of what meant DD didn't turn, though with the strong,
powerful contractions I had, she may have been being pushed down too
much, though others have said that it's the force of the contractions
pushing the head against the pelvic floor that makes the baby turn, so
having a strong pelvic floor is important!

Cheers
Anne