Chocolatcatty,
I'll try to remember what you asked...
First baby I was scared, excited, panicky & quite fearful of the whole thing...
One day I expressed my fears to my Mum (I felt like I wanted the days to last forever to prevent me from getting closer to THE day!)
Mum took me to the shops where we sat (midweek) & watched literally hundreds of women walking around pushing prams, pregnant etc... Then she said to me many of the people your looking at are pushing a pram & heavily preg again would they go back for seconds if it was so bad!!!
Then she told me of my Nan whom had biryhed 13 live babies (2 died) & the few miscarriages also in between, would anyone be crazy enough top have that many if it was THAT bad!!!
It really relaxed me...

I started to look forward to the day.
My first labour was not at all ideal, as my waters broke early Tuesday am I went back & forth to hospital as contractions were sporadic & I did get a bit worried which made me quite distressed & panicky, but on Thursday they noticed meconium in my trickling waters & so gave me Syntocin.. The contractions came on thick & fast & hard, but it's not a pain as such, more a wave of cramp that comes & peaks & then releases, but I focused on each contraction as bringing my baby closer to me & let my body go, fisghting it would take longer & so try to just let the waves of contractions let you float in & out of the ocean... It is kind of like the ebb & flow of a tide & trying to let it wave over you like that is calming & bringing bubs closer to your arms!!
The hot pad was called for & then about 5 pushes later I felt the exhilerating wet floppy fish sensation & they passed her up to my chest!


Truly the only things I can say is try to focus on letting your body do what it needs to, dont fight it & try to walk in the labour ward...

With Indah when the contractions started I was so excited I couldnt believe finally it was happening (both my girls came bang on 41wks!).
Everytime I sat down or relaxed the contractions dissipated, so I waited for my Mum to come & we walked around the block over & over again all afternoon, then Dh came home after work & was shocked that I hadnt told him, but i knew he'd panic & come home, we continued to walk & once it got darker (outside) & more intense with the contractions I kind of marched from one foot to the other leaning on Mum's kitchen bench, then my sis her hubby & kids all got back with maddy from Melb show.. We had dinner & I pigged out, they all left I went home to have a bath (our house is infront of my parents!) the bath made them even more intense so I then go out called hospital (it was 9:45pm) & they seemed to think my ability to speak meant A, I wasnt as far into labour as i had thought or B, I have a decent pain threshold ..
I decided to pack car & felt ready to go in (I prefer to be at home as long as possible) we parked at bottom of hil & I walked albeit slowly & often stopping before reaching the hospital, onve in i climbed the stairs as I needed to walk I continued to walk the contractions through til about midnight when I buzzed midwife as she was gonna check me my waters burst & at 12:31am Indah was born...

My contractions started at 9am & were dull cramps every 3 mins apart & slowly got stronger but never any closer, stayed at 3 mins & slowly built up yil I'd say at 8pm they started to really become evident, I lifted my top at one stage & you could clearly see the outline skeletal sahpe of Indah inside my tummy with each tightening...

But I embraced my contractions as it's what i carried bubs around for, for 9ish months!!!

Best wishes, but truly it's so amazing & uplifting & exhilerating!!!