Talk it through, talk it through, talk it through! Not just education. Bore yourself to tears with it, along with your support people. That way you don't have to think, you know it by heart, it's going to happen.

Pick your support people carefully. If they put their wants over your needs (DH wanted a hospital birth and no doula, I needed a homebirth with MAYBE a doula and midwife but ideally no-one) then they'll do it during the birth. I ended up in hospital, no support and with about fifty thousand people surrounding me - see the "first world birth" from Monty Python's Meaning of Life - I am a Yorkshire lass so was planning on the "third world birth" from aforementioned film.

Reading doesn't help if you have bullies and no support when you give birth. Sadly, that's what midwives and Obs are in my experience - non-supportive bullies.

My preferred pain relief was being left alone or being supported. While that happened I had no pain (29 hours of 33, DS was half-way down at that point). And that's with a posterior baby; he was back-out before I went into the hospital (2 hours after labour started, 33 hour labour) and they started making their demands.