I read all the same books as heaven, and Birthing from Within and Childbirth without fear were my favourites.

I was too scared of childbirth the first time round, hence my elective c-section - so I had a lot of fear based barriers to break down before labouring. I think fear of childbirth is totally normal but we need to embrace it, not run from it. Childbirth without Fear definitely helped me trigger some things and sort them out - I was still scared, but not scared enough to let it stop me like it did in my first pregnancy.