HELP!! Nervous for Labour

The best tip that everyone i have spoken to has given me, is to expect and prepare for the unexpected and unplanned. It is great to go in there with a birth plan (very helpful if you have anxiety like myself)- BUT add to that plan for every possibility. If you have a birth plan that’s very strict, no epidural, no episiotomy, no c section etc… and then you are really struggling with the pain and want an epidural or you cannot birth without an episiotomy etc, you’ll feel as though you failed. Go in there, prepared and planned, if that’s the type of person that you are, but add bits for all possibilities and be open to those changes ❤️ You can of course have your ideal birth plan, but you cannot be too strict on yourself and others when it comes to following that plan if circumstances change (in terms of medical needs! not just someone saying no you need to lay on your back etc). Do your research! So you know exactly what is happening if they say episiotomy, or tears etc during ❤️

For example.. I am hoping to do it with no epidural, as I already have back problems and know the small risk of increasing those. I am going to ask them not to ask me if I want any pain relief or the epidural throughout my labour, HOWEVER, I would like to know when it’s getting to sort of the last opportunity to ask for one so I can gauge the situation and see if I would like to go all the way without one. That way, I (and everyone around me) am sticking to my original plan, but if things change and I cannot stick with it, I do not go too late without the possibility ❤️ Also have a place in your plan for an emergency C-Section. Who is going to be with you etc? Obviously no one plans for one, but if it happens you know exactly what is coming, who is coming and what to expect ❤️

Sorry if this advice is absolutely useless to you as you are not planning on writing a birth plan! 😂 But as someone with anxiety anyway, which is very much heightened at the minute with labour looming, it is helping me cope. Just knowing that I have written my ideal plan, but if this happens then i want this … and if this happens I need this etc, so that in the moment, I am not having to make any big decisions that I have never thought about, is helping me massively ❤️ Can’t comment on what to expect as this is also my first! But this is just how I personally, am prepping ❤️

Try not to think about the entire labour and just focus on one contraction at a time, it's much less scary that way. Just breath through each contraction, and use the time in-between to rest, relax, eat, drink etc and as above, be open-minded, but also question everything, it's your birth at the end of the day 💝