I have huge medical anxiety. I was really terrified of birth but I think my fear of a needle in my back for a c-section was higher so I never really considered that an option.

It is scary but it is also something you kind of have to do, the baby has to get out. So when you know you have to face it and are in that moment, there isn't much else to do but embrace it. I found it best for me to just completely detach during my pregnancy and not think about it, focus on other things. I did no research, no classes, I was better with no information. It would have been detrimental for me to have all possible scenarios (worst case especially) running through my head because I would have totally lost the plot. I just kept thinking it is just another normal part of life, something I could do with all the knowledge I already had.

During labour there were moments I wanted to run but you can't and sometimes that is enough to get through it. I have now been through two drug free spontaneous vaginal births and honestly, the thought of another still does scare me a little. During my pregnancy I would look around and think, millions of people are giving birth right now... so many people have given birth. It is normal. Women over a certain age I would look at and think, hey, they give birth and look at them just living like it is no big deal. I had to take the whole process down a few pegs, it is just another part of life, a single day in your life. A moment. A natural moment you were born with the ability to do. Trust yourself, let go. That is what helped me.

With anxiety in general a little trick helps me frequently that can be applied here - when you have a negative unhelpful thought, visualize it as an internet pop up; annoying, spam, not factual, getting in the way of the bigger picture behind it... so click that x and get back to something positive! Sometimes those internet pop ups are persistent, you might have to keep clicking that x a few times but remember they are just junk and not worth your energy engaging