Advice for labour.

For those of you who have given birth already can you give me some advice on how to help progress in labour (in regards to dilation), what helped you ease the pain a little bit, what things really helped you, the things you did during your pregnancy that helped you during your labour, what did you think helped you to push the baby out, how do you actually push a baby out...

I know some of these things probably sound really dumb to some of you but I am an FTM and I am so lost about some of the above mentioned things. It would really help to ease my anxiety if anyone could answer/give advice.

Thank you in advance.