Once again, I'm away for just a few hours and so much happens here

it makes me very happy to be part of such an active group!
campn I am so happy and excited for you that the scan went well. And you got cute pics!
hopie, you're not wrong; there's two kinds of doulas. One helps out during birth, and the other type comes round the house to help out afterwards. It's the birth doula I'm recommending, although I'm sure the other kind is lovely too. I'd forgotten there was the other kind, so thank you for giving me the chance to clarify
My birthing story (no scary parts):
Moo, I think it's a fun idea to discuss birthing stories, but Xans raises a good point - no horror stories without trigger warnings! lol When I was pregnant before, I hated hearing other people's stories because half the time they were horrible and scary

My actual labor part was not so bad. I thought I wanted to do water labor, but then it turned out I didn't feel at all like getting near the tub! lol All that planning to make sure there'd be a tub and I wouldn't even get in it haha! But I hear you on not wanting to be laying down. Nothing sounds harder to me then having to push while laying down. I folded the bed up so it formed a right angle and pushed while leaning against it and squatting. When it came time to push, I announced "I'm pushing now" but everyone thought it was too soon. Even my doula was all "don't push till the doctor gets here" and I was like, "no I'm pushing now" so the doula got on the phone and yelled "she's pushing and we can't stop her" and the doc rushed in and checked and sure enough I was ready to go. But, to be honest, I really didn't need the doc to tell me it was time! It was super obvious. Everyone kept trying to give me instructions on how to push properly, but I just ignored them and did what felt right. She was out in only seven pushes!
psycho, yes it's true; I did not have an epidural. But, there's a weird social pressure to have one. Like, all the nurses expected I would. I can see why a lot of women think they won't have one and then change their minds because even at my very progressive birthing center where they were open to a lot of things, the assumption seemed to be that everyone would have one eventually no matter what they said at first. So part of the help a doula can offer is just having someone in the room who knows an epidural free birth is possible, to help resist the social pressure. I actually caved at one point and started to ask for one even with the doula, but my husband said "You had a lot of good reasons for not wanting one, and if you do want one now that's ok but you have to make an argument for it" and that reminded me that 'oh yeah I really didn't want one' and I just kept going without it. But, it's not because I'm heroic, it's because I'm scared of getting stuck in bed not able to move around and having to push while on my back. To me that would seem like the worst torture. However, my doula did have amazing comfort techniques so probably I wouldn't have been able to do it without her.