I spent ages preparing myself mentally telling myself that I was strong enough to do this, that my body is made to give birth etc. I'm someone who passes out if I slam my finger in the door so can totally relate to the pain threshold. I spent my labour in the bath and found a crack in a tile and that is what I focused on the WHOLE time. I didn't take my eyes off it. DH, mum and MW kept saying how fixated I was and it didn't matter that they were talking to me, that crack in the tile gave me something physical to focus on during the contractions and gave me a chance to tell myself how well I was doing and how much I wanted this.
I didn't do any read TBH, just had a sheer determination that I was going to do this and prove myself and everyone wrong.
HTH. GL hun and you get the birth that you want.