Look I would like to give you a piece of advice. Do not take to heart anyone's birthing experience. The reason I say this is because your pregnancy and birthing experience will be unlike anyone elses. Yours will be different in so many ways because you are unique.
Do not get too upset if your dreams of having a certain birth don't happen. I wanted a water birth and I had an energency csection with no time to prepare for anything. It happened so fast I didn't know what in the heck was going on.
Read "What to Expect when you are expecting". It is a must read for all expecting Moms. Take things with a grain of salt. Ask lots of questions of your OB. That is what they are there for. Visit the hospital that you will be birthing at. Take classes when they are offered. I never did make it thru my first one since I kept going into prelabor. I was sad that I didn't get to go.
Really take the time to enjoy your prenancy. Rub your tummy, talk to your baby, play music for your baby(they can hear in the womb), take a happy attitude towards life in general, eat healthy and enjoy those little indulgences, have fun shopping for your unborn, get familiar with your body. Do not borrow trouble when it comes to your birthing. Just go with the flow of things. When it happens just let nature take its course. Pain is a small price to pay for such a beautiful thing. Plus they have epiderals that cut the pain.
Make sure you right down a good birthing plan for a natural birth and a csection just in case. You never know. You may start out having a natural birth and they may have to do a csection. It happens sometimes.
Write down all your wishes- epideral or not, what family members to be in room and which to not, having cathetar put in after numbed during csection. This one is important. You don't want them putting that in until you can't feel it. It isn't that pleasant and you want your birthign eperience to be as pleasant as possible, playing a music cd in the operating room if csection. I had a lullaby tape playing and it was so pleasant and nice. Helped me to relax a little more.
I have only had one child. I had a very difficult pregnancy after 9 years of waiting for my pregnancy to happen. My daughter is now 5 1/2 by the way. I was very tiny and my baby was a preemie weighing 4 pounds 9 oz, but very healthy other than jaundice. I was able to take her home even though she was under 5 pounds. I was so thankful for that. She stopped growing and thriving in the womb so that is why they decided to take her before anything serious happened to her or me.
I had zero time to prepare for my csection. I had no idea what it was or what was gonna happen, but the nurses and my doctor were very caring towards me. Thank goodness. My husband was there in the operating room with me.
I had a longer recovery because they gave me too many meds and I had a hard time feeling my legs. I finally came around. yes it felt like I had been hit with a mac truck in my gut, but I did not take any meds after the intial morphine wore off. I managed to get thru without Tylenol or anything. I was bound and determined to do it. Now if I had to do it over again I would take the medication because it helps you to recover a lot quicker.
Follow the doctors instructions. They know what they are talking about!! This is important. They have birthed so many babies and often know what is best.
I wish you the best and hope you have a wonderful experience. Enjoy for the sake of your baby!! Take one day at a time and try not to think about the future too much. It will be here before you know it.