Id see how your birth goes and decide at the time. The pros and cons of both are on a par so i think that you need to take other things into consideration.
Like what?
In my case i wanted a natural 3rd stage as i wanted delayed cord clamping. That couldent happen as she needed resusitating so the cord needed to be cut asap to take her to the resusitare. The reason i wanted the natural 3rd stage wasent there anymore so i then chose to have a manged 3rd stage.
Hmmmm.... This is interesting to me, because something similar happend with my first baby. What I have never understood is: his cord and placenta were not compromised, so he should still have been receiving oxygen etc. from there. He came out "needing resus" - surely that means he needs what the cord and placenta have to offer even more than a baby who comes out NOT needing resus? I could not understand why they cut the cord in order to resus him, it seemed so..... illogical.
Why not leave it intact and resus him RIGHT NEXT to me? That way he gets everything he should have from the placenta AND he gets any additional help from the staff that he might need. I still don'tget it....
There is an enormous difference between "going with the flow" (ie, not making a plan at all) and making a plan but being flexible about it. I know, because I have done both. Without fail, where I have planned in advance, the outcome has been better than when I have thought "oh I will just see how it goes".
The first time, I had NO plan. I also had zero control over how ANYTHING was managed. Everything was directed by the hospital staff and, frankly, it was a bloody nightmare from start to finish.
My second baby I knew what my options were, I knew what my preferences were, and yes we did have to change plans a little on the day, but overall the experience was WONDERFUL. The only part I would change for "next time", would be a firmer "birth plan" for the part I didn't really bother with this time....
(Now, see if you can guess which part I neglected in my plan and decided to just "go with the flow", and which part was the bit that went Pete Tong and required us to change what we did on the day...
)
Most women I know spend MONTHS planning a wedding, if not years! Anything could happen, it could rain, they might become ill, guests might get drunk and get into a fight, the cake might get knocked over and spoiled, she might get a giant ZIT on her chin on the morning of the wedding.... SO much she can't control, why bother planning anything, right?
There is absolutely an element of surrender in birth. But that doesn't mean give up any hopes or preferences you may have. You stack the odds in your favour, you get your ducks in a row.... So that on the day you have the freedom and confidence to let go and surrender.... IF something crops up that requires a change of plan, you deal with that and move forward without beating yourself up over it, this is entirely different than NOT giving yourself that "safe space" in which to surrender to the birth process in the first place.
thanks ladies you have just confirmed what I had already decided. I just won't mention it to DH until I'm in labour and he's too afraid to argue otherwise 
