How do I stop worrying about the whole giving birth thing?

The best advice I had was 'imagine every contraction as one nearer to getting your baby rather than one more you have just had to endure.'  It worked for me! X

NOOOO! dont hve a c section! Worst pain of my life! I had to have one as she was in distress and the recovery is long and hard.

I hadent got used to the idea that I would be birthing, since I had 10 weeks to get ready,...next thing I know my waters have gone and im in labour!

You cant over think it. You cant be ready for it. you just have to deal with it at the time. having the baby is part of HAVING the baby! You will be fine!

Hi

I  have had 3 children, all natural....when I was expecting my first I thought I can't do this...but I did! It woudl be a lie to say it dosen't hurt, because it does, but the water birth was a lot easier nad a lot less pain. But the joy and sense of love and joy t hat came when I held my first child was so immense that i can still remember it now. Each contraction is one step closer to holding you r baby in your arms. Best advice, and it is hard to do....RELAX...the more relaxed you are the easier labour becomes.

I've had two births both very different - first was a natural birth with drugs (diamorphine, G&A, epidural). It lasted about 18 hours but was a fantastic experience, didn't hurt and I got to sleep through most of it!

The second birth was an early induction (waters broke), it took 20 hours on the drip to get me into active labour with gas and air to deal with the contractions. I had diamorphine again but it made me very ill. Once the labour started the contractions came on very quickly and 40 mins later baby arrived. No time for an epidural so felt the delivery. Yes it hurt but honestly it didn't kill me, it didn't last long and it ended with a baby.

I think there is too much focus on the pain of birth, it's not constant and isn't as agonising as is made out on TV. A first birth is generally slow too so plenty of time to explore pain relief.

Elective C sections are not handed out willy nilly, and are not the 'easy' way to give birth.

Clare speaks sense!!

The trick is to relax as much as possible.

I have 5 kids... my 1st 4 were induced at 42 weeks and my 5th came the day before she was due to be induced at 42 weeks.

With my 1st, I was only 18 and I listened intently to every horror story that was told to me so when I went into labour I completely panicked and I made things 100 times worse for myself!!

With the others I was determined to be in control and my trick is this... each contraction starts mild, peaks, then dies down. they last for at most about 90 seconds, so what I did was with each one I counted... by the time I got to 90 it was over!! It made it so much easier to cope with that I didn't even need the gas and air, I sounded completely demented but I got through fine and 5 kids later I'm still fine!!

Just try to relax. no, babies don't just pop out but with each contraction, you're a bit closer to holding your baby for their 1st cuddle. x

I am a midwife and when it is your first baby antenatal classes can really help with the fear of giving birth. Sometimes it is just the fear of the unknown. I meet so many women who are scared when they come to my antenatal classes and leave feeling much better.

I can also recommend hypnobirthing which should eliminate any fear at all. Another thing you could do if you are really petrified is book yourself a session with a hypnotherapist.