I knew I wanted a natural birth, mainly because I had looked into the drug options and none of them appealed to me at ALL.

I'm a sook with pain though and I remember being sooky/crying after having a crampy arm for a couple of hours during pregnancy, caving in to panadol and wondering how on earth I would get through a natural labour But labour pain is different. It's not like a crampy arm where you're not sure why it's hurting, you know it's not normal and you don't know if/when it will end. Labour feels natural, painful sure, but natural. You know why it is happening and you know it will end (eventually ).

Things that helped me were:
Reading about the drugs and their side effects- this helped so that even when I couldn't think in labour I still knew in my heart I didn't want any of them so they just weren't an option.
Reading birth stories and the articles on bellybelly- this helped me feel prepared for what can come up & what to expect so that when it was happening it wasn't all a huge unknown. Though I still remember saying to my H "I had no idea!"
Reading birth books- I never settled on much that helped me 'deal with the pain'. I read Birth Skills a bit but didn't use any of what I read. I read Birthing from Within which you may like as it deals with fear of birth, but I personally wasn't scared so I didn't get anything out of it. I watched/read The Pink Kit and I really liked that for the understanding it gave me so I felt knowledgeable about what was happening.

I tried a TENS a machine and hated it so while I still recommend them based on other people loving them I wouldn't pin all your hopes on it. I moved around a lot and tried different things. Rocking/swaying, squatting and being in the shower were the best things for me. Oh, and I expected labour to take at LEAST 24 hours and I think that helped as I just tried to get into the zone and get on with it and not wish it would end soon as I didn't expect it to IYKWIM.