I wasn't scared before going into labour/birth. I informed myself by reading as much as I could here on BB and in good books. I also kept reminding myself that women have been having babies for thousands of years and it's totally natural, normal and beautiful. I also know that drugs were never around in the early days of giving birth so I thought if those women could do it drug-free, then surely I can? :D
I believed in my ability to birth my baby and if any fears did come up, I quickly vanished them with healthy affirmations that "yes I can do this". And any negative birth stories told to me (ie my mum loves telling me about how much it hurt her!!) I would ignore ;)
DD was posterior and it bloody hurt, all 9.5hrs of it but I did it drug-free (no gas) because I believed I could do it without a doubt. I also had the right circumstances to allow me to do that so I feel very lucky. Although DD was posterior and pushing stage was 2.5hrs long :o :o :o and I tore 3rd degree, besides that pain, it was amazing LOL!!!!!
This time around, I feel the same way, very confident etc, not scared at all, HOWEVER I do have fear of tearing badly again and having a long pushing stage again because that was the HARDEST part!!! But I keep reminding myself I have done it before, this time should be easier ;)
What helps me through labour and contractions, is I do alot of focusing (probably a bit of hypno birthing) on the 'waves' of the contraction and riding the waves until they go...... so when I was in labour as a contraction hit, I would pretend I was riding the wave and as it surged and I was at the top of the wave and it was so painful, I would then focus on coming off the wave and pictured the wave getting smaller and smaller as the pain went, it honestly truly helped me......I just went with my body and my mind at the time and TRUSTED it all...... I wasn't scared then. I don't believe you need to do hypo birthing or calm birth courses to know how to set your mind in the right frame either.....it's really not that hard.
