Were you scared beforehand and how did you remedy that?

[angelaartsstudent]

Agreed. It's more the potentially nonchalant staff that scare me, rather than the pain or my ability.

[fionas]

I was scared in my first pregnancy until I read a book by Juju Sundin, then I felt quite confident. However I had a long labour and ended up pushing for almost three hours which basically crippled me for a long time afterwards because it severely exacerbated the SPD I'd had in pregnancy.

So second time around, I was scared of exactly the same happening - not scared of labour as such but scared that it would take me so long to recover again (18 months before I could actually go for a decent walk) so opted for a c-section. Best thing I ever did.

[Laranna]

Yep, I was scared during my pregnancy with DD. I had committed to the VBAC and there were times whe I thought, I could just book in a repeat c/s. For me, it was the fear of the unknown, even though I read books and birth stories and listened to a hypnobirthing CD. Actually, that's what helped me I think, the hypno cd. With the c/s I already knew the procedures, as I'd been through it. With a VBAC, there was the whole unknown and potential risks.

Now, if I was pregnant again I think my fear (trying to squash it as I don't need to think about it yet) would lie around the transition pain and tearing again.