I have had four children and I was petrified of giving birth with my first.  I was 20 at the time and I had heard alot of scary stories from other mums.

But after the event, I laughed myself silly, as everything that I was told about labour was just stories.  Yes, there is some pain, but I found that if you go into it with a positive attitude, you will breeze through it.  Just knowing that any minute you will be holding your own child in your arms makes a difference too.

And if you feel that you need help with the pain, there are a number of options which your midwife/doctor can offer you.  They can make it totally painless.

Good Luck

 Try not to worry.  By the time you get to the labour - you will be wanting to meet your bub and wanting him/her out your tummy!.  Both my births were beautiful and didn't hurt half as much as I thought it would.  It is normal to be worried about something you haven't done before.  But everyone is born and every woman can do it.  There is plenty of help (and medication if you need it).  Once you talk to some mums about their births, I'm sure you'll feel more comfortable about it.  

I felt much better after going to the antenatal classes.  Get some good birth books, they will tell you what happens and how it feels.

You body knows what to do! It doesn't matter how scared or worried you are, your body will do what it needs to do to birth your bub.

There are also some great DVD's you can watch - even utube has some births you can watch if you want to educate yourself.

I had one epidural birth and a natural labour (baby was over 9 pounds /  4.4kgs = huge), as I said both births were beautiful and I would do it again if my husband wanted more kids.

If labour was so bad, no one would have more than one kid!  It is a challenge, but one you can get through it! Believe in yourself.

i was completley terrified.. Actually wen i was in labour i was saying i couldnt do it.. But it was over in seconds, dnt do wat i did n not listen to the doctors that was the worse thing i could have done..

I was terrified too! In fact the second I saw the postive pregnancy test the first thought that crossed my mind was "OH MY GOD THAT IS GOING TO HURT" I think that anyone who did not have any fear of childbirth while they were pregnant is either not telling the truth or nuts. Of course you are going to be scared, You really have no idea what to expect as there is nothing like it, nothing to really compare it to. And nobody walks around saying how awesome it felt. All everyone ever told me about it was that it was the most painful... but worth while thing they ever went through.

The best advice I received when I was pregnant was to try to ignor what everyone said about labour, your labour will be nothing like theirs anyway.

Try to think of it this way... it can not be all that bad, a large precentage of women do it over and over and over again, and most women can not actually remember the pain, only that it hurt. Your body has ways of getting you through these things.  This is quite literaly what you are made for!!  But that is easy for me to say I had a C-section, and it was literally one of the most comfortable times through out my entire pregnancy!

I can totally relate to the whole "oh my god labour thing", i was freaked out for a while to, to get passed it i a did a lot of gentle streches, and stayed active, but i also saw my local chiropractor / keniziologist for regular visits, they made sure my pelvis wasnt twisted and that my hormones were balanced to try to help it all along, in the end i had a 2 1/2 hour labour and delived a very healthy 8p 5oz baby boy, i had also come to the relisation before labour that we women have been doing this for thousands of years with little or no help, our bodies are designed to cope, as long as we listen to what our bodies tell us, we will get through it, it may not be easy but we will come out the other side strronger and with a beautiful baby to reward us for our efforts.

Best of luck! you will do a fantasic job of being a mum, and listen to your body, be firm with what you want for your birth plan and dont be afraid to try some thing, hot water / shower / heat packs are good for some, and others need completely differnt things, dont be shy about tell some one you dont want them in the room, this is YOUR delivery, you rneed to feel secure and safe, find a good friend you trust ask them to be your birth partner, talk it all over, rise to the challange, you can do this with flighing colours!

I think that every mother goes through a period of freaking out or being concerned about labour. I mean, why wouldn't we? We all hear these horror stories. But truth be told more women have "easy" and cruzy labours then not. I've been luck to go through 3 different, but "easy" labours. The length means nothing.

The more you help your body to prepare the easy it is during and afterwards. Gental stretches and swimming are great.  Check out an antenatal aquarobics. You don't need to be fit.

Look past the pregnancy and labour to a point that doesn't scare you and focus on that. Enjoy this miracle.

Also on the idea of relaxation, have you looked into the pregnancy yoga and pregnancy pilates or aqua aerobics??
Those are apparently all good for relaxation and they are said to make labor alittle easier because your body is more limber and loose.

Other ones are get a relaxation CD or MP3 and just lay in bed, concentrate on your breathing, just forget that your even pregnant and think about before you were pregnant, swimming or doing something you used to do but dont have the energy or stamina to do at the moment.

Also dont forget that you can get the herbal teas which are fine during pregnancy and it can always be very relaxing, and hospitals dont mind you having them during labor :)

It is so normal to be freaking out about labor.
I remember I was about an hour into my labor and I had such an easy labor but because I had worked myself up over it with the weeks prior to it, I was sitting there like "I CANT DO THIS", "I DONT WANT TO DO THIS", and "JUST CUT HIM OUT" and it really wasnt as bad as I thought.

I know I had a pretty laid back delivery of my son, and I know being pregnant with your first you hear 100 horror stories to 1 good story but those good first labors DO happen.
Remember to stay calm during it and you will do fine, and you can always ask for pain relief if you need it.

hey darlin i think its is very normal 2 be a lil scared of labour!!

especially with you first, as you've never done it before and you dont know what its goin to be like until its happening

but the best advice is not to listen to everyones horror stories because for some reason there are a lot of ppl of there who think its funny 2 scare first timers

just silly if you ask me.... and yer dont stress too much your body is goin 2 do what its designed to do.... and when the time comes it is scary but just think when its over that you'll have a beatuiful lil bub in ur arms and it will have all been worth it

also some ppl will tell you that u'll forget the pain straight away after (i didnt beleive it either), but its deffinatley true!!!

anyway good luck and enjoy ur pregnancy its such a beautiful thing and very amazin what your body CAN do!!!

xoxo jade