natural birth advice

After a lot of consideration and research I've decided to do a drug free natural birth. I'm a ftm and generally speaking have a pretty high pain tolerance. I just hear of so many moms who got the epidural last minute because the pain was too much. Is there any way to get past that point? I'm not opposed to an epidural but decided I want to do this all natural. Also is there any preparation you'd do before labor even begins. I'm 30 weeks and want to start thinking about these things.