Can I pull my hand up too? I loved giving birth to my son (my daughter was a 31hr labour and I was totally exhausted but that's another story).

My son's labour/birth was that much quicker. Perhaps because I was better prepared. I loved being in control with my son (ended up having an epidural with DD due to my exhaustion. I didn't want to go on with it any more!) I did a lot of visualisation throughout my contractions about my cervix opening up. I focussed on the positive as much as I could rather than the pain. Sure the pain was still there, and yes it did hurt, but it was good pain. Each contraction was one less to go thru to getting him out. And it felt so good when I had to finally push. I had total control, and I could feel him moving down the birth canal with each push. It was awesome. I couldn't believe as a woman what I was capable of doing!

And yes, I was scared leading up to the birth - after 31hrs with DD, who wouldn't be - but I decided that it would be different. I decided that I was going to take control, and the whole visualisation of opening, and also each breath in was a bright, positive white energy to my body. I know both of these two helped for sure.