Ok viroids, epic post incoming:
I tried to write a quick version of my birth and failed, so you get the warts & all long version! I hope it helps you first timers! 
So to give you the lowdown on my labour, everything really went as well as it could have done I think. Started with tightenings when I woke at 6am, and after a couple of hours chilling in bed, I got up, had brekkie and hopped on the birthing ball, which weirdly seemed to stop the contractions!
Once I got off the birthing ball the contractions started quite strongly at about 1 o'clock, and after breathing through them, and having a leisurely bath, by 5 o'clock they were coming every three and half minutes or so and starting to be pretty damn painful. DH being an absolute star and rubbing my back through every single contraction!
We rang the labour ward at 6:30 and after I had a rather shouty contraction while on the phone, they agreed that it sounded like we could go in! Drove to the hospital with poor DH having to pull the car over every three minutes to help me through the contractions! When we got to the hospital there was no parking spaces and I refused to let DH drive off without me to park, so we dumped the car on double yellows and headed on in.
We got to maternity assessment at 7 PM whilst they were changing shifts so we had to wait a little while, but they had a lounge area where I could lean over a birthing ball and carry on contracting so that was good. They asked me to do a urine sample (which is pretty much impossible whilst having contractions!) and when I went to wipe i'd had my show! TMI ALERT - it was like a massive bloody ball of snot, lol, like uber EWCM!
They examined me (which wasn't fun, I hated being on my back) and found that I was 4 cm dilated, so we were good to go round to the delivery suite. Gave them my birth plan and there was a lovely big pool room free! I didn't want to be on the bed, so they got us a gym mat and beanbag to lean on.
It took them about 45 minutes to fill the pool, and contractions were getting very painful now, more than I could cope with on my own, so we started on the gas and air, which is just the best thing ever! It made me all giggly and happy in between contractions.
At 9:30 we got into the pool. It changed the quality of the pain straightaway, and I felt much more able to cope with it, although you couldn't of prized the gas and air out of my fingers for anything! DH got in with me, which was lovely, and the next couple of hours were really as relaxed as they could have been. I literally floated through each contraction breathing gas and air, with DH supporting my head. There was a hair raising moment when the gas and air canister ran out 
, (DH describes it as 'the worst three minutes of my life'!) but they changed it pretty quickly so that was okay!
At about 1130 I felt like he was moving down. I didn't so much have the urge to push but there came a point when my body just started pushing for me! It really was the strangest sensation. I can only describe it as that point when you know you going to be sick and you can't do anything about it, and your stomach just heaves. It was just like that it was like my uterus just heaved and started pushing him out!
DH got out, and I moved on to all fours so gravity was in our favour. Was going for about an hour, with each pain finishing in a bigger and longer push each time. Toward the end I was getting really frustrated because his head would come nearly all the way out and then slip back in again, I properly turned the air blue! 
Then finally the head was out! I did feel the 'ring of fire' but the immediate relief of him popping out was amazing. The only push I physically did myself was to push his body out on the next contraction after the head, and there he was!
It hadn't really registered up to now, but my waters hadn't gone at any point, and J was born still in his membranes! The midwives caught him in the pool and peeled them off - they looked like cling film! He didn't cry (though me & DH did!), but he was so alert and gorgeous.
He was very relaxed, just stared up at us! It was just amazing.
Practicalities afterwards, we stayed in the pool for half an hour or so, but no sign of the placenta, so the midwife clamped and cut the cord (neither of us wanted to!) and J was rubbed down and handed to DH to be dressed. I was helped out with very shaky legs and got onto the bed where I could cover up and get warm. We had a go at putting J to the breast but he didn't latch on, and after a little while the midwife was concerned that there was no sign of placenta, so we gave up for now.
The midwife wanted me to push to try and move the placenta along, but I felt weak as a kitten and couldn't push! At 2am we decided I may as well have the injection to speed along the placenta, and I was so high on adrenaline I hardly felt it. I got a bit weepy because I felt like I should be able to do this placenta stuff after pushing out a baby! About 10 minutes after the placenta injection I felt like I needed a massive poo, so the midwife helped me to the bathroom and it turned out the massive poo was actually the placenta coming down. It didn't really hurt coming out but it was fricking ginormous so I felt much less bad about it taking a while once I saw it!
Once that was over the midwife examined me to see if I needed any stitches, and I'd had a small tear but when she tried to examine me any further I screamed like a big girl cos it really hurt, so she sent for a doctor to have a look because if I had torn then I was going to need stitches. I insisted that before she even looked at me she gave me a local anaesthetic - at this point I've had quite enough pain and was taking no shit! The local anaesthetic going in was probably the most painful part about my whole birth experience, mainly made worse by me being pretty exhausted by this point, but I kept going on the gas and air while the anaesthetic was popped in and once the area was numb it was a breeze from there!
So then me and DH both got showers and were brought several rounds of tea and toast by the midwife, which was lovely, before we were wheeled round to the postnatal ward at about 6 AM!
It was weird really that the most stressful stuff about the birth came after it, the birth itself was very positive. I felt like I was in control, and I knew what was happening around me and inside me! I was really pleased that I'd taken the time to think about what I wanted for my birth plan, and I'm so relieved that I was able to have what I wanted - I know not everyone is that lucky!
I'd definitely say be strong about what you want. And have the placenta injection! That's 2hrs of my life that could have been less stressful 