Overcoming childbirth anxiety before even TTC

[Wannabemummy25]

As you can probably guess from the title, I am not currently pregnant but I'm interested in whether anyone else felt the same before they were? I'd really like to start TTC in the next year and I really want kids, however after reading some of the threads on here I am terrified about giving birth! I think I must have some form of anxiety to get worried about this probably 2 years before it is relevant but I like to be prepared! I read a sentence on one thread yesterday that a lady said childbirth was so painful that if she had been offered a lethal injection she would have taken it :O
I also have a bleeding disorder so it may complicate things but did anyone else feel anxious and how did you cope? Did you find that the more informed you were, the better able to deal with the situation? Does hypnobirthing work?!

My situation wasn't exactly the same - I didn't love the idea of childbirth before getting pregnant, but I wasn't terrified. Then I had a really tough pregnancy and became terrified of giving birth. It hung over me like a cloud the whole time. I used to have panic attacks so bad they made me vomit and my heart would race for hours. I had nightmares, when I didn't have crippling insomnia. It got so bad my consultant referred me to the special pregnant lady shrink, and I had so see her once a week for 6 months.

Both the shrink and the consultant banned me from reading birth books and birth stories because they made me so hysterical. Milli Hill had me freaking our on my consultant and demanding an epidural when I was only 20 weeks gone, and Ina May caused a panic attack so awful I didn't sleep for 2 days. It also gave me nightmares for months.

I got less anxious by being told I could definitely have a epidural. That helped a lot, I was very scared of the pain. Ended up with an ELCS for a breech baby, and frankly, the day I found out was one of the best of my life.

Anyway - my advice, make a HUGE fuss about being terrified, don't hide it, cry, freak out, demand epidurals/c-sections/to see the mental health midwife and don't let anyone fob you off.

It’s like taking a really big shit with an audience...but the results are better.

Did you find that the more informed you were, the better able to deal with the situation?

No it was the opposite honestly. I've been terrified of birth ever since I can remember, and the more information I read the more terrified I became. The best thing I did was to just put it out of my mind and become pregnant. I'm glad I did as I love being a mum. If I waited until my anxiety went away I'd probably never have become a parent.

I was always petrified of giving birth, but once I was pregnant it was like a switch flipped and I just thought the baby has to come out somehow and it isn't going to be easy whichever way so I'll just have to go with it.
I was recommended a lot of classes because I was a young mum and the midwife seemed concerned that I wasn't scared of the birth but I'm glad I didn't go. I didn't feel any pressure to get things "right" so to speak whereas others I know who did go did have that pressure.
In the delivery room I just tried to concentrate on the moment I was in rather than what would happen next, so when the contractions started getting bad and paracetamol wasn't cutting it I decided to just try the next form of pain relief than start panicking about what the pain could be like in a few hours. I listened to the midwives, was open to trying different things to help such as back rubs, moving about, sitting up, laying down, crouching etc and the only time I started to go weird was after I'd pushed the head out and I was fed up after a three day labour and 2.5 hours pushing and demanded they pull the rest of the baby out (they didn't).
I agree with a pp though, I was denied pethidine and an epidural saying it was too late but a few hours later was offered the epidural to slow labour down. By that point I wouldn't have been able to stay still for the epidural and whilst I don't regret not having it because I coped and it meant I avoided a c section some women might not be able to and it could make things worse. You'll know what you need in the moment and keep asking until you get it. Do that throughout the entire pregnancy too - I knew something was wrong and nothing on the charts was showing until 35 weeks when I was told I had preeclampsia and extra fluid around baby. If I hadn't gone to hospital every time I was worried and been monitored and asked to stay in overnight when they said I could go home or stay they might not have found it as I was asymptotic for the preeclampsia.