I think being informed was what helped me through my natural labour and birth the most. I recommend reading "Creating you birth plan" by Marsden Wagner. Learn about each intervention, why and how it's done and how it will affect you and the baby. Identify what is important to you and go from there. I didn't so much write a birth plan, but birth preferences. If induction was necessary, I decided under what circumstances I was happy to do so and also how I preferred it to be done. In educating myself, I made any decisions before hand rather than having to weigh up benefits and risks etc on the spot while in labour.

Birth attendants are also important. I gave birth in the delivery suite and got so lucky with the midwife I had (in the delivery suite you get whoever is on when you get there). She read my birth preferences and discussed any points of concern with me. She especially confirmed that I wished for a drug-free birth and warned me that she would hold me to it. If I asked for drugs, she was not going to go running for them straight away. I had a very quick labour (I went from 2cm to delivered in 2 hours 45 minutes) so there probably wasn't time for pain relief anyway. But everytime I said I couldn't do it, my midwife would just say 'yes you can, this is what your body is meant to do'. I kept repeating that to myself and that got me through the worst moments.

You won't know what it'll be like until it happens. Educating yourself and preparing for many possible scenarios will give you the best chance of having the birth you want. Just remember though that the aim is to walk out of hospital with your baby in your arms, not to have the 'perfect birth'.

Good luck.