Any tips?

[EC1567]

I'm a soon to be FTM

I'm really excited to finally meet my little bub, but not looking forward to giving birth so much haha although my hypnobirthing course is helping.

Has anyone got any weird and wonderful tips? I've read a fair few articles but find the best tips that aren't always widely publicised comes from those with experience :)

Either for giving birth or recovery :)

I find that my mindset had a lot to do with it. With my first I was naturally scared and worried and I definitely tensed up, resisting contractions and was only half heartedly pushing as I was so scared!
Second time round I had a different mindset- I welcomed every contraction and told myself it was another step closer to baby being out and it being over. Tried so hard to relax my jaw, relax my body and let the contractions happen. When it came time to push I thought I am not hanging around here for long so gave my everything to pushing and it was over much quicker.
Not sure if that's any help!

Not sure if this is the type of tip you were looking for, but having a water cup with a lid and straw that went down to the bottom of the cup was what someone told me to get for labour, was easier to drink from as didn't have to really move, also still lucozade really helped me when I was being threatened with a drip due to being sick a lot. Also cereal bars and sweets were handy to have in my bag afterwards once I was on the ward.

And if it helps I also used hypnobirthing techniques and had a good experience, they helped me keep calm and focussed, so whilst it still hurt I didn't panic. I didn't care about music or lighting though :)