Hi ladies, can't help sticking my head in here every so often still!
I must have been lucky, but no one ever tried to tell me horror stories while I was pregnant and as a result i went into my labours without any preconceptions, relaxed and with a take it as it comes attitude. I had 2 very quick, drug free births and even managed a water birth second time around. and yes, i acknowledge that I was lucky.
Some people seem to class themselves as "ill" from the moment they discover they're pregnant, and anticipate labour and birth as being awful, traumatic events..when really it's the most natural thing a woman can do and what our bodies have been designed to do and have been doing for thousands of years. Yes, sometimes intervention is necessary, but there's certainly no need for people to assume they will need every drug going and every kind of assistance available.
As one of the ladies here has already said, every labour and birth experience is different, and none of us can control what the event will be like for us. Certainly, being mature enough to deal with the experience helps but it's certainly not a free pass to a trouble free birth.
Definitely agree that a lot of women who have had babies now seem to consider themselves to be experts in the field . I think the only thing that any of us can say for certain is that everyone reacts differently to the stresses ( both physical and mental) of labour and the early weeks of baby's life ... And there's no shame in being one of the people who finds the process difficult . But that's not to say that the labour/birth process WILL be difficult .. It's oranges and apples for people... And all any of us can do is roll with it and above all remember that none of it lasts forever...not the pain of labour or the sleepless nights...at some stage we all look back on the experience with nostalgia and pride.
