I wanted a natural birth so bad and I tried so hard. My husband and i took the birthing class, read the books and had a mindset that this is what I wanted. Once I went into labor (the day we were scheduled to be induced at 41 weeks) I stayed at home as long as possible. We tried a bath and the ball and walking around. When I got to the hospital I was already dilated to 4cm and my water broke right when I got there. I progressed about 1cm per hour and when I got to about 6 or 7cm my contractions got super intense and were making every fiber in my body want to push. We tried another bath (didn't work for me), walking around, being on all 4s, the ball, all of it. I got to 10cm and pushed for 3 1/2 hours all naturally. It was a beautiful experience. I was never pressured by any of the nurses or doctors to take any meds. My husband and mom were incredibly supportive, but after that long pushing, my baby starting showing signs of stress. We tried another round of pushing but ended up having a c-section.

What I am trying to say is keep an open mind. You can say you want to go natural all you want, but if you have never experienced labor then you have no idea how you will handle it. A lot of it is in your mindset, but don't be disappointed in yourself if you decide to get meds or end up having a c-section. I wish you all the most beautiful labor and delivery experience.