Tips for med-free birth?

This is baby #4 and I had an epidural for each of my 3 previous births, but I'd really like to try this last one natural. I'm a big fan of the benefits of the epidural (I'm a much bigger wimp than I'd like to admit!), but I always have a really hard time recovering from the side effects. It'd be nice not to spend the first couple days of my child's life feeling like swollen, nauseous death. I always hear people say that going natural is easier if you're "prepared"... Any tips on how to do that?