What is the zwischen? The last few days and weeks of pregnancy as you wait for your baby to be born are not easy, but take heart. This special time is doing so much while you do so little!

Birth workers are generally obsessed with this amazing temporary organ, yet many parents-to-be are at best oblivious to its wonder and at worst horrified and disgusted by the sight and very thought of it. So what’s so special about your placenta anyway?

This Morning’s resident GP, Dr Zoe Williams, had spent enough time working in obstetrics to feel that an elective caesarean would probably be her choice of birth - but after enlisting the support of a doula she elected for a homebirth. Williams explains why, and how the decision changed her whole approach to birth.