I had my first drug free. I used a midwife program which was largely responsible for my success - it made me aware this option was possible.

I am alergic to sutcher material and was petrified of tearing. I had done the reading and discovered drug-free helped you be aware and made tearing less likely - that was all I needed to know. I certainly didn't want infections and the like disturbing my efforts to BF.

My prep was copious amounts of walking. Mum kept me shopping from 9-4 the day I went into labor. When ever I felt the contration wave I just focussed on the fact it was helping me not to have stiches. By turning it into something postivie it became more bearable - you just need to find your positive thing...

The other thing that was immensly helpful was that my mum found a pressure point on my back (purely by accident) that cut the labour pain in half. There were times when she couldn't re-find it or she was too tired (no one else could find the tisky little spot) and I had the full pain-wave. I would definately look into this as it was a godsend (needless to say mum is coming to number two in Feb!).

Good luck!