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Ohh following! The only class we could sign up for is 3 weeks before my EDD, and I'm worried it'll be too late! I'm feeling pretty lost as well!

@grizz: oh no!!!! This may sound silly, but watching videos of real natural childbirth really helped me a lot, there are quite a few on youtube. I'm not sure if you've watched "The Business of Being Born" it's pretty good. I also really liked "Laboring Under and Illusion" and how it demystifies mass media portrayal of childbirth vs. reality.

The best advice my doula (who was also our educator) gave me was that a long contraction lasts 1.5 minutes, and the worst is at 45sec. You can do anything for 45seconds, and before you know it, its getting easier again. She also constantly reminded us in our class that we are made for this, trust in yourself and your body, allow it to do what it is supposed to. Don't resist the contractions, give into them and let them do their job.

The very best prep is to become confident in your body's ability! Know the process of labor & know that your body DOES know what it's doing.. that transition sucks for everyone but that it means you're almost done, your body isn't losing control, and you CAN do it!

I didn't have any childbirth classes so if you don't finish don't freak out. I told myself over & over that I COULD/WOULD do it & in labor that trust was so imperative... it's when I stopped trusting my body that contractions got hard & I felt I couldn't do it. Get on the same page with your DH and resolve that what you want IS what you want and in crisis times it's his job to bring you back to being grounded & remind you that you CAN do it.... or just lie to you "lets try one more contraction" every contraction (doulas use this all. the. time) lol.

@prettylizy: Where can I find "Laboring Under and Illusion"? I'd love to watch it!

Totally agree with @runsyellowlites: about getting a support person (DH, whoever) to be on the same page with you. From my own reading and our birth classes, these are the things I credit for my natural birth:

- Know how labor typically goes. It was great to know what effaced, dialated, and all the other terms meant. I remember thinking, oh I'm 7 cm? I can do 3 more!

- Know your intervention options. What may be suggested? Why would that be a good/bad thing to do? What are you open to and under what circumstances?

- What are the hospital policies/standards? We had to go in for the tour and classes to figure this one out. I think it helped to know that our hospital was "friendly" towards drug free. If they weren't, we would have needed to be more prepared to advocate for what we wanted.

- Watch drug-free for drug-lite births that are POSITIVE. Don't watch anything where women are screaming their heads off. I watched videos in class of women who managed their pain in a variety of ways and that's when I thought I really could do it.

- This may not be an option, but I think the #1 contributor for me was prenatal yoga. I used techniques from that more than anything else. It helped me focus, breath, be present & accept the contractions, and gave me familiar positions to manage discomfort. My nurse mentioning a certain yoga position also made the difference (I think) between me being able to keep pushing and having them give up and want to do a c-section.

You don't have to have the exact classes, you just have to actively prepare. I think having the instructor work with you will be plenty helpful. Good luck!

The most important thing to me is knowing the particulars of your hospital and their policies to see if there is anything you want to specially request (skin to skin, golden hour, rooming in, etc.) I think most of us on here are interested in pregnancy and birth and know a lot more than we think! I was surprised that I really didn't learn many new things from our classes.

same as @winniebee, my only birth plan was epidural - and I almost didn't get it in time! TBH, I felt like my class was a total waste of time. Haha.

Honestly I don't think my L&D class helped me at all during labor. I learned more from reading online and here on HB.