Suzie asks another great question:

What was the best/most comfortable position for you to labor in before you starting pushing for delivery?

I am a firm believer in having women walk during labour. I did not do this my first labour and I wish I had walked the entire time. I have small hips and had quite long labours. Most were 10-15 hours. My first labour was 24 hrs long. I also think breathing techniques are great and having a good coach. Robb was really into this so I never had anyone else, but I was a coach for many women and believe me, some men have very weak stomachs and just can’t take the labour, delivery thing (it takes a WOMAN!). If your partner has not been much help for the prenatal classes and you think he may not step up to the plate when the time comes, I would get a second person to help you. There were so many times during my first labour that I wanted to throw in the towel (of course this is not possible, but at one point in my first labour, I probably would have swallowed a brick if I thought it would get rid of the pain), but Robb kept telling me that we were going to just do one contraction at a time.

When you get to transition, it really is the best way. They (the contractions) tend to pile on top of each other, and it is difficult to walk, but I would tell myself that I was one step closer to having my baby. My transitions were much better when I could stand up and it makes sense that the baby is going to descend much easier if you are upright (have you tried pooping laying down?). Hope this does not sound terribly grim. To give some perspective, I recently did my third triathlon and when I was in the middle of my 5k run, I asked myself why in the world I was doing something so ridiculous ( I had already done the swim, then biked 20k in 40 degree weather while wet!). As I was making my way through the run, it occurred to me that doing a triathlon was much like going through labour. And just think, I have survived 9 labours and done three triathlons. I think I felt just as tired after labour and delivery as I did after doing a triathlon. However, there is nothing in this world as wonderful as holding your newborn and I mean NOTHING!