oh just to add pretty sure yuo are going to the redlands, is that right? if you want to burn oil yu need an electric oil burner, you can't have live flame at the hosp.

Also maybe look at getting a doula?

I find a lot of how the woman is copying with the pain is a mental thing rather than a physical thing...also find this personally. So what I mean by that is that although there are some really wonderful physical things that can help...water etc (how I love water) if you have lights glaring in a womans eyes, and ask her 3million questions and a heap of people in the room etc water pprobably isn't going to do too much but if you turn the lights down low get some music pllaying, oil burn, really relaxed slow quiet and positive talking, having your support person encourage yu ike this and you can realx and feel comfortable then water can feel like heaven iykwim? So its about getting you what you need mentally to help you cope

Also one other little thing is making a long ahhhhhhh sound when you're contracting can help, can stop you tensing your body up and fighting the contraction, cause if you practise making that sound you can feel its harder to tense, something about it mentally having that repetitive action can be really helpful for some woman.

Hope I've posted something that helps