I’m absolutely terrified of giving birth

You'll get lots of different views based on people's own experiences. I'd say consider if you want another child. My first birth was natural-no issues and back to everything soon after. The second was an emergency CS. I'm grateful for it saving her life, and I had no choice, but I never managed to have another live baby after. Recently read an article about infertility after CS-it was the Times I think if you want to google, and wondered why women aren't told more, but then, as I say, I had no choice and no regrets as it saved my second, and even if they'd warned me, I'd have had the surgery to save her. The recovery was really easy, sure my belly/pooch never looked the same after, but I couldn't have cared less about that. So as you want opinions, I'd say if you're considering more than one child, go natural. Though I do know people who have had CS and had more than one kid, so maybe I'm just unlucky.

Hi OP, I had both of my children at home with midwives, the first was a water birth in a pool and my second came too quickly for me to get in the pool.

What is it particularly that you’re scared of?

I found transition (the stage between your cervix dilating and baby actually coming out) really quite brutal with my first. Less so pain wise it was just a wild ride. The pushing a baby out part was fine, I had a tear but I didnt feel it happen. My body just took over and did it all.

Second time I didn’t even notice transition which is what I found hard with my first. There wasn’t a pushing phase, baby literally just came out.

What helped me was really understanding the different stages of labour and the biology behind it all. I knew exactly what my body was doing.

C section . I've had both and I recovered quicker from the c section .

Three vaginal births, first induced, used gas but doesn't really stop the pain just make you care less about it, like your drunk. Next two used nothing as prefer to move around and had realised what worked for me after the first.
Honestly @libsned if it was that bad everyone would stop after one, they are worth a few hours of pain🥰

I was also absolutely petrified of birth and the unknown and I opted for an elective C-section. For no grounds other than I was just to frightened by the whole labour idea. I felt so much more in control during the C-section. Then went on and had another elective C-section with DS2