It's totally fine to keep an option off the table for yourself if doing so will help you stick with your resolution. I didn't give myself the option to transfer or to get any pain relief with my first, and I think it really helped -- it honestly never crossed my mind during labour that I needed anything. I did HypnoBirthing as well, and you really have to work at it and practice often for it to be effective.
Totally agree! To me, it's akin to not keeping formula in the cupboard if you want to breastfeed or not keeping your trigger food around if you want to lose weight. Getting through the next 30 minutes is the most important step in getting through the next three hours. Humans are addicted to ease by nature. You wouldn't think it was a good idea for an alcoholic to keep beer in the fridge. If intervention-free is the goal, it's perfectly reasonable to keep unnecessary interventions 'off the table'.
Agree. If you're resolving to have a natural labor, it's important that the people around you are on your side, because some women need that support when they feel like they're at the point where they can't make it through. Personally, my labor was pretty easy. I kept waiting for it to get to the point where I felt like I couldn't handle it, because that's what I was told is how you know you're in transition, but that point never came. For some women, however, their labor is longer and more intense and it's harder for them to maintain a mental state that allows them to make the decision that they really want in the end. by having someone on their side who knows the other "options" aren't "options," they can coach and empower the mother through the difficulty, rather than making her feel like she really does need the interventions.
If you're someone who doesn't have a problem with interventions, but you want to give natural birth a try, I think it's important to also make sure that your support person is on board with that and that you have a plan laid out for determining when to use interventions.
It's OK to decide that interventions (unless it's an emergency) should stay off the table during labor. It's also OK to decide that you want to
try to keep them off the table, but leave the door open. In either case, I think it's important that the person there to support you is on board so that
- They can provide moral support to you during labor.
- They can advocate for you when hospital staff decides to offer interventions.
I'm personally choosing a homebirth, so all interventions other than water therapy are off the table. I'm in the US, so "gas and air" aren't an option either. My body is built to do this and unless an emergency situation comes up, the best thing for my baby and my body is to let my body do what it's meant to do, discomfort and all. I do, of course have the advantage of having done it before, but every labor is different. This next one might be 1.5 hours long or it could be 12 hours with back labor. Who knows. I'm hoping for a quick 1.5 hour labor and delivery though! If I can choose, I'll also go with a morning birth. Haha, we'll see what I get!
) and have him read the most important parts of the book, which he already has read some. 
