Carmen, Monnie has given you good advice - reading as much as you can before birth is a great idea. I also recommend New Active Birth.

As someone who has had an epidural with one birth, and just gas with the other, I can only tell you if I was to have another baby, I would go for just gas or no pain relief again. With an epidural you are confined to bed. It increases the risk of intervention and this happened in my case, Jack ended up in foetal distress and forceps were used which then led to a tear which then led to an episiotomy. Also, you have to have a catheter and are immobile for some time after the birth. I was quite ill with gastro prior to Tom's birth, yet I felt so much better after his birth than Jack's. I didn't have drugs in my system and I could get up straight away and have a shower and walk around. I can't tell you what a difference it made.

So my advice, is to plan for no epidural. It might happen that you have a back labour, or a very long labour, or you just find you aren't coping with the pain and need something. If this happens, that's fine, you go to plan b and have an epidural. But if you do manage not to need one, you will feel so much better for it. And it's also very empowering to give birth without pain relief, it truly is an amazing feeling.

Unfortunately I think the rate of epidurals is too high and it is this way because we don't trust our bodies to do what they are designed to do, and we fear the pain. If you can believe that you can do it you have a great chance of doing it. This is also why the reading is so important.

I wish you all the very best with your preparation and your labour and I know you will do a great job.