First time Mummy!

I would say, try to relax (as much as possible) the more tense your body is the harder it will be. Your body will do the work for you, you just focus on breathing through the pain!

I personally loved giving birth both times, and I do think it’s because I remained relaxed throughout

Good luck 💜

For me the overriding feeling was exhaustion. Rest as much as you can beforehand and make sure to eat/drink regularly when you're in labour!

Not gonna lie it hurt, but honestly it didn't last long and then once I had baby in my arms I forgot about it! Being stitched up afterwards was uncomfortable but not painful.

Definitely have someone who can advocate for you. Things can move slowly and my husband was fab at giving the staff a gentle nudge when my induction kept being stalled. Pick a couple of non-negotiables for your birth plan - next time around for me it would have been on all fours, not on my back and ideally less people in the room (things got a bit tense and it was hard to relax and focus).

I also prolapsed as a result of birth/overdoing it in recovery. This is common but knowing what I know now I'd have been really "on it" with my pelvic floor exercises whilst pregnant, and would have done more resting afterwards! But I'm feeling a lot better now at 6.5m post partum.

I hope it goes well xx