Hi Michelle

with my first son , I used really intense imagery that helped me get through the labour, afterwards i heard of hypno birthing and realised that was sort of what I'd been doing!!I used imagery of each contraction was a wave rolling in....then rolling out as the pain went away. I also imagined a flower opening up (hoping that was what I was doing!) and slow breathing.

I also tried to embrace each contraction as another step closer to meeting my baby and thinking "yes" and accepting the contraction rather than fighting it and trying to keep it away (kind of hard to explain)..it all worked perfectly after about 10 hours he was born naturally no drugs (a bit of gas towards the end), even though he was posterior and the pushing took about 2 hours

RE: fear in birthing, I used each contraction as a reminder my body was doing what it was supposed to and tried to remain "open" and relaxed to let nature do it;s thing...as well as listening to and breathing along with the rythym of a Jeff Buckley CD so intensely that I yelled if DH forget to press play when it ended non stop for about 6 hours!!!

best of luck, hope it all goes well for you