positive childbirth stories?!

[mooms]

i'm 32 wks tomorrow, first baby and i've made the decision to give birth (with good luck and a fair wind!) at a birthing centre, so no option of epidural, 15 mins transfer to hospital if anything goes wrong.

The thing is, all women keep telling me is their horror labour stories, how painful it is, traumatic, emergency c sections, tears, all the negatives.

i want to hear some positives, i want to be as calm as poss and to know that yes it bloody hurts but it's bearable, that not all labours end in emergency c sections, etc i don't want to be scared before i even start! i'm not naive enough to think it'll all go as planned, i'll do whatever is necesary to give birth to a healthy little one, and i may end up being a total wuss but only 4 people (2 of whom are my mum and a work colleague who are obviously older and it's a while back for them!) have anything positive to say!

anyone else feel like this or have any positives for me? should i just ask people not to tell me any more?!

Keep active and keep breathing through those contractions, they are there to bring you closer to meeting your bubba :)

12 hour labour here - 6 hours at home, then to hosp (high risk pregnancy due to endocrine probs, poor obstetric history and blood pressure) where they found I was 8cm for some LOVELY gas and air which really took the edge off, it's great stuff. Active birth on a ball/ leaning on DH who was rubbing my back, had lovely music and aromatherapy oils. And a fab DD at the end of it all!

Good luck and I hope all goes smoothly for you!

I had an overdue baby and had a very long pre-labour which eventually led to me being induced and then having my waters broken. Eventually this led to an emergency caesarian. And do you know what? It was all absolutely, perfectly fine. It wasn't the textbook birth but there was no yelling and screaming, everyone was kind and lovely, I slept overnight during the induction phase with an epidural in, I tried really hard to push him out with the help of a lovely midwife and when they realised he'd turned himself around I had my husband holding my hand during the (painless) caesarian and then I heard the magical sound of my baby crying. Good luck to you! Keep an open mind and all different types of births can be 'good births'.