I've got my plan, hopefully things do go as planned. *fingers crossed*

My ideal plan is natural vaginal delivery without pain medication, but in the event I felt like I needed something to help, I wouldn't object to an epidural. The birthing center where I will be does have whirlpools to use, but I'm high risk, so I will probably not be allowed in because they will need me hooked up to electrical devices for monitoring. My birthing team will be our nurse, the maternal fetal specialist, my husband and after birth, I will have a lactation consult with me to assist with breastfeeding. In the event I were to need an epidural, I've met with several anesthesiologist who are aware of my medical condition and know how to best assist. In the event that my medical condition becomes troublesome during labor, the team is also prepared to use forceps, or vacuum suction if need be.

Overall I feel pretty prepared, I'm honestly not scared of labor, but I think I'm a rare exception. It's completely normal to be afraid.

Based on the comments I read under the videos, I have plenty of company. I'm hoping I can go the same route as you at a hospital but if needs be I'll go with what the doctors thing is best. I don't know for sure who will make up my team but my mother will have to be there. I don't think I can do it without her. I hope you can stick to your plan and all goes well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my ob/gyn won't find any issues that make me high risk.

I hope so for you as well! Good luck!

And if they did find an issue that made it high risk, just try not to worry. It's not so bad, it just means you have to see doctors a little more frequently, but you'll be in highly trained hands. The doctors who work with high risk patients have taken extra training, so they really know pregnancy inside and out. Generally though, most people are not high risk. If you have a preexisting physical condition, are expecting multiples, or have a complication arise, it typically warrants seeing a specialist, but other than that most are fine.

I just had my son on 2/25. He was my first. I decided not to read about the birthing process since I get really bad anxiety. I would rather be surprised than worried, ya know?
It really wasn't that bad! I had a vaginal birth but I also opted for the epidural. I was 3 cm and in a lot of pain from the contractions, so the dr said I could get the epidural. It was really a god send. After I got the epidural, I fully dilated after 2 hours. The hardest part for me was the pushing. It is exhausting because you push every time you have a contraction, which at that point, they are coming fairly quickly. After about an hour and a half of pushing, he came. I didn't really feel anything.
The worst part is week or so afterward. You do get sore down there but it's only temporary. C sections take a lot out of you and require A LOT of recovery time.
Just wanted to add my 2 cents. I wish you luck girl! I promise you, child birth isn't that bad. Just keep an open mind for the epidural.

Congrats! And your 2 cents were worth a mil. I heard epidurals make the labour somewhat harder despite the pain relief. Also, did the baby seem 'drugged' as people claim hey do with epis?

Not at all, but that was just my experience. I felt that it made it a lot easier for me because I was able to rest before I had to push. (I got in a 2 hour nap once the epidural was in). And no, he didn't seem drugged to me. Everyone's experience is different but I would recommend the epidural based on my experience with it!

I'm hoping to do without but after the image I saw on the ultrasound I might need that or a C-sec. Seems the baby inherited my bf's head and it aint small. Lol. I just want a safe delivery. I don't care what needs to be done. If I need surgery so be it. As long as the baby is ok and I can bounce back in a few months I'm fine.

I thought I'd add a comment here, hope it helps. I've had 8 babies and and tried a few different things. Sadly my first was stillborn and I delivered her early with no pain meds. My second was a big healthy baby, I had an epidural with her, the third was bigger,9 lbs, I delivered him squatting with no pain relief, the fourth ended up a c- section after 42 hours of tiring but pretty easy labour. After the c- section I delivered my fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth vaginally with epidurals and no complications. All my deliveries and ob care was done by midwives in a hospital setting. I think what I have learned is that it is important to have a solid birth plan in place, it helps you to feel like you have some measure of control, however it is even more important to be willing to throw your birth plan out the window if necessary, be flexible and aware that birth is different for everyone and with every baby you have. People told me I'd forget the pain, I didn't, but you just don't care about it once you have that baby in your arms. The most important thing is a healthy baby and Mom of course. It's natural to feel nervous about birth and it's easy to find lots of horror stories, but none of my births were horrific and none of my friends had horror stories either. You never hear about the good stories only the bad. By the way, I delivered babies with and without epidurals and I didn't notice any significant difference between them in terms of how alert they were after birth, my c- section baby was groggy though, Oh and all my children have giant heads like their father, I also have what looks like a narrow pelvis, but it's actually the size of the inside of your pelvis that matters, I guess mine must be pretty wide. One more thing, I do think the epidurals slowed down my labors somewhat, however I opted for them with the labors that were long and tiring, I knew that I'd have very little left to give if I didn't get some rest. At the end of the day I guess I'm saying do your research, make your birth plan , enjoy your pregnancy and don't beat yourself up if the plan doesn't work out. There's nothing more wonderful than holding that beautiful baby in your arms, the feel of their soft wet skin and hearing their little voices for the first time, it never got old, I can honestly say that I felt just as much joy and amazement at the birth of every single one of my children. Best of luck, it's a beautiful thing.

Thanks! I think it's too soon to have a solid plan since I'm not even in my second trimester yet but I'm doing my research so when the time comes I can make a concrete decision. Your post gave some good insight though so thanks again.