I planned on going natural...

educate yourself asap on pain management, think about what your best birth would look like--at home, birth center, in a tub, on a table, I'd enlist a doula in addition to your partner and talk to your ob, find out the policies at your hospital (if applicable) on letting you progress by walking or if you have to stay hooked up to monitors. Write a birth plan--show it to all who will attend your delivery

 I think it is good to not watch a lot of shows about birthing, especially those TLC shows. Most of the women on those shows are so ignorant about birth. You can watch the shows after you have your baby :)

My first pregnancy I went all natural and it was wonderful. I consider myself a wuss, so I was pretty worried about how I would tolerate everything. Yes it hurt and was very intense, but it was amazing to see my body work like that.

Some important things for me were.....making sure the nurses did not offer drugs (I probably would have said yes if they kept asking), and I had to refuse induction several times, which was really hard since I was in SO much pain. But I knew I would not regret a few more days of pain rather than be induced and have my chances of csection and all other interventions go WAY up.

good luck!

Look up ways for pain management. Educate yourself on things about labor and delivery. I believe you can do it. Its what our bodies are made to do :) Congrats on the baby.

Educations is a big key. Find ways to manage your contractions. A Doula is a wonderful help. Take a Bradly class if you have them close by. Talk with your SO/Dh about what you want and what they can help with.

Look into hpynobirthing, water birth(even if it is just laboring in the water. It is called the midwifes epidural).

It is amazing how much energy you will get when you need it. It is such an amazing and wonderful experience.

I would take childbirth classes maybe even consider a water birth you still have time to do a lot of research

Good luck.

If you want to watch something, watch homebirth videos on YouTube.
I found it both painful and tiring... but that was gone as soon as my baby was born. She was born at 12:47 AM, and I couldn't sleep the rest of the night due to the birth high, lol.

I would just read a lot about natural childbirth. I know a lot of women on here recommend Ina May's Guide to Childbirthby Ina May Gaskin. I liked Husband-coached childbirth : the Bradley method of natural childbirth by Robert Bradley.

Mostly, I just tell myself: Women have been doing this since the dawn of time. Our bodies are MADE to do this. And if women can squat in the fields and have a baby, I can give birth in a hospital.

Also, watch out for "transition". That's the part of labor when you are almost done dilating, but not quite there yet. Apparently a lot of women start to panic during this time. I did. And because I didnt know it was normal, that's when I took some pain meds. I had no idea why I was panicking either--everything had been going great. But now that I know its normal, I know I'll be able to push through this time.

I did it. I researched pain management a lot. The pain was honestly managable for me, and just when I thought fuck, I cant do this the baby came minutes later. Definitely painful, but beautiful. Not the worst pain in my life. Worst was gallbladder issues a couple weeks after birth. Now that sucked.

First, you need to change your verbiage from can't to can. If the baby is coming out of the vagina, everyone has the ability to do it naturally. It's whether or not you CHOOSE to. You just need to focus on educating yourself and not giving yourself any other options but to do it they way you were intended to. I have birthed 3 children all natural, ranging from 7lb 6oz to 10lb 5oz, labor length ranging from 8hrs to 30hrs. Everyone who wants to have a natural birth, can. That is a choice. (Aside fr unforeseen TRUE EMERGENCY complications.

I alway start out thinking " I'll got for natural, but if it doesn't work out, no big deal". This is my will be my second. With my first I was in labor for 12 hours and really needed a nap. I had an epi and took a short one lol. I'll try it again this time, hopefully labor won't be so dang long!