Anyone else been thinking about Labor and Birth?

I admit that for my last 2 labors i have been absolutley terrified, but this time i am actually looking forward to giving birth, but i really want it to be different and I want to be more in control (unlike my previous births where i have just done everything the doctors and midwifes have told me without even questioning if it was in my best interest or not).

Anyway this time i have been reading about hypnobirthing, seeing as i have relatively short labors (around an hour) , I feel pretty confident that i can use what i have learnt to get me through, but i still have that nagging doubt , that 'what if it all gets too much' ....

I dont want to use the gas like i normally do because it just makes me laugh and then cry and just makes me feel spaced out and i want to be in enough control this time to see her born and maybe even help deliver her, I guess my question is has anyone else ever had any experience with hypnobirthing? did it work for you? any tips?

Is anyone else thinking (or overthinking lol)  about their labor and birth or am i the only weird one? lol

What does everyone else plan on using for pain relief?

 Cassandra

I really started thinking about it a couple of nights ago when I was awake from 2:00 - 5:00 am with increasingly intense and frequent contractions. I'm overthinking it a bit too, especially because my mom and my kids are going to be there! I'm a little freaked out about how that will go. I'm having a homebirth, and the only pain relief available is the bathtub and the support of my husband and midwife. Both of my other births were completely natural too, and they have gone really well. I'm not so worried about how I'll handle labor, but more about how my handling of labor will impact my mom and my boys.

There has been some discussion of hypnobirthing in other threads recently. I think Katesdreamgirl is the one who had a really good experience with it. I don't know if she'll see this in the May forum, so you might want to look at some of the recent discussions in the pregnancy forum for more information about hypnobirthing. I have not tried it, but I have a friend who has used it and it has worked well for her.

I've been thinking about it too.  ITA with previously letting the nursing staff and doctor dictate my labor,  Last time I insisted on NOT laying on my back even though they were pressuring me too. 

i don't get it. Why do they tell us our entire pregnancies to not lie on our backs and the moment we get there, that is what they want us to do!  I am giving birth squatting whether they want me to or not!

Also, this time around they WILL turn up the epideral.  What is the point of having one if you are still in a tremendous amount of pain!

Speaking of epiderals, I want mine *now* because my back, hips and sciatic nerve are killing me!