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I was also nervous and scared about labour. Somehow Im now so anxious and excited about having my baby and not so scared anymore. Dont ask me how that happened. Im 37 weeks today and cant wait for the day for something to start. Every little pain or cramp i have makes me hope that labour is here. Funny enough im not scared of the labour pain (im opting for a natural birth without any pain relief) but the bleeding and recovery afterward....i think im crazy...

to C -best of luck on the natural birth thing...I attempted and lasted 30 minutes before I was screaming for the epideral. My contractions were 30 seconds apart and I never got to recover from one before having another and I couldn't take it....by the way the epideral might be one of the best things ever invented. I literally felt nothing, not even my legs which I didn't like but I was only in labor for 4 hours so it came and went quickly. You also have full mind control, its not like your high or anything...I STRONGLY reccomend but every labor is different. The recovery was very painful but it diminishes quickly and mine was gone in a weeks time. To dboth you have every right to be anxious but you'll be in good hands, millions of babies are born everyday. If I haven't stressed enough already...GET THE EPIDERAL don't worry about being hero, I was sitting up talking and not feeling anything when they came and checked and said I was 10 cm and we'd start pushing soon. I sat and watched tv through my entire labor. I think most of it depends on your doctor, I only pushed for 20 minutes and this was my first child and he got stuck, but my dr reached up turned him over and vacuumed him out. The nurse said later that most dr's would have done a c-section...hopefully your dr is a good one.

I had my first son natural and I going to have my 2nd baby natural too. It was very pain full, but as soon as you start pushing the pain goes away. I am very glad I did it. I don't dare to get an Epoderal, I don't want any one or thing messing with my spine. very scary.

i am pregnant with my 2nd child. my first birth was natural and painful,but i am going back for seconds and plan to have another natural birth. please dont worry us woman are designed to cope. i was only 17 when i gave birth to my son. i am the biggest wimp ever and if i can do it anyone can.good luck.

To dboth, I also heard (from a midwfie) that if you are really scared of labour you tend to get in there and wait for it to get worse and it never does because you have been ssooooo worried about it. I wasn't worried at all, not a bit scared so when it happened I went into shock and didn't cope at all. So bottom line is I think being scared of it is a good thing.. with luck it won't be as bad as you imagine.. and no matter how bad, once its over its immediately relief and you have a wonderful new little person to get to know.

I also was somewhat worried, mostly about dying. But nowadays that hardly ever happens, and when it does, it's because of some accompanying illness, like eclampsia, or when someone gives birth at home and things go wrong. If you had some sort of condition caused by pregnancy, believe me, you would know about it! I suppose you will be delivering at a hospital. The doctors there don't wait until something bad happens, they always play it safe and will do a c-section if they suspect there will be a problem. I had a med free and very average delivery (first child) at 36 yrs of age. It took about 10 hours and I had pretty much textbook contractions. It was totally bearable until the last 1 1/2 hours, when it did become very painful. But, so you don't freak out, here a comparison: Have you ever suffered a night of bad diarrhea with hours of bad cramping and throwing up every 20 min? Did it get so bad that you didn't get off the toilet anymore because you didn't have the strength to get back to bed? That's pretty much the degree of discomfort that you will experience during a normal birth, except you will be feeling more pain than nausea. The same goes for hours of terrible sea-sickness. I once was so sick that I lay in the sun on deck, unable to crawl into the shade. Got an awful sunburn on one side of my face. Really, I don't know what was worse: that boat ride or giving birth (well, birth took longer)! If you really have an especially painful or long labor, you can always get that epidural. If you are keeping the epidural in mind as an option, I would let the hospital personnel know immediately upon arrival and sign those papers right at the beginning. Saves time and nerves later on. As for heart attack/aneurysm, why would you get that during birth? You are young and pregnant, not geriatric! Running or riding a rollercoaster is harder on the heart and anyway, your heart has been pumping a larger amount of blood for 9 months without problems, so it will do just fine during labor. Good luck!

once it starts... believe me, you don't have time to think. i didn't have any kind of pain killers and when i finally wanted them, it was too late i had to start pushing, but your not thinking about if your going die. i was wondering "am i really going to be able to do this" but i was up all night and pushin for 2 hours... but when i think back, it wasn't scary in a sence of fear for my life, but more of my baby. once you feel those first contractions (at least for me) all you care about is that baby and nothing else. you'll make it through and in the end it will have been a fear you concored, whether you wanted to or not.

I'm with klm!! I had been in labour all day, but as soon as they gave me pitocin, I was asking for an epidural!! Once that happened, I was much happier, got to rest, and my labour progressed quickly and beautifully!! 3 hours later, I was 9 cm's, a few after that I was 10, 20 mins of pushing and I had a gorgeous baby girl....without feeling a thing!! I LOVED it!! I would totally do it again! You have to do whatever is best for you and your baby. best of luck!

dboth, All i can say is that every labour is different. I had a natural childbirth and am now 36 weeks pregnant and hope to do the same, but if not oh well. Just keep your mind open to any possibilities. Just because one person did it natural doesn;t mean you have to or vise versa. I know of people who have had epiderals that went numb all the way up to there arms. They could not even hold there babies. Everyone is so different you just never know. You youre\self will know what is best for YOU. Good Luck.

OMG....dboth your thoughts mirror my own in fact I think I am causing my labor to stall b/c anytime I get regular contractions I panic and they stop like I;m just not ready yet.... I worry constantly about death (I have an anxiety disorder) but what one of the other ladies said was true at least I hope so most likely if it was dangerous you would know about the risk already..