Just thought of something else. I found this book by a herbalist called Nan Koehler. She had a recipe in it for "birthing tea" - from Raspberry Leaf Tea, Basil, Lavender and Nutmeg. I tried it, plus a whole heap of RLT as well. I figured it couldn't do any harm, might help and at least it's got lots of vitamins in it. Also in a book called The Birth Book by William & Martha Sears (they're from the US, encouraging of attatchment parenting etc), they had this drink called 'Labour Ade'. So I used their recipe to make some, chucked it in the freezer and had it to sip on icy cold during labour. It made sense that if you're working as hard as that, if you're starving and your blood sugar drops, and you're dehyrated and feeling edgy & irritable like you do when you're slightly dehydrated, that might make it harder to hang in there and persevere for the hard yards. I reckon, well I've got a days hard work to do, might as well make everything else as nice & easy as possible. The calcium is supposed to help increase pain tolerance!
It's made from lemon juice, honey, pinch of salt & sodium bicarb, water, and 1-2 calcium tablets - I used the kind that dissolve.
They reckon drinking heaps and peeing heaps helps to keep things progressing well.
I didn't walk much during my first labour, I wish I had. I had this idea that you're supposed to be all quiet and relaxed, so although I stayed upright & used gravity and swayed my hips, I didn't go walking for miles like I did during the last two labours. I had this dream of myself walking up and down the lanes of Ireland (where we were at the time), leaning on those stone walls when a contraction came. My instinct was trying to tell me what I needed, but I wasn't so confident about listening then. Staying quiet & chilled out works a treat for some personalities but since then I've realized that the active style, charging around the place hardly staying still much at all until it's time to push, works better for my kind of body and temperament! 2nd labour 3 hours - babe born in shopping mall. Walked until pushing. 3rd labour - 2 hours - babe born at home. Walked miles every day as I was "kind of" overdue - walked until pushing.