Positive birthing experiences do exist and I hope sharing this can help soothe some anxiety or fear for a future mama. Everyone’s experience is different but I do think the following helped me: 1. I trusted my OBGYN. I truly believed she wanted the best for me and baby. It was very important that I had a black woman as my OBGYN in light of black women’s maternal health issues. 2. I ignored unsolicited advice. I swear I’ve gotten more advice from people being pregnant than ever before lol but I learned to just say okay and thanks and move on. Didn’t matter if they were a medical professional, a doula, a mom of 628282 kids or whatever else. Once I decided on my birth plan that was it. 3. My fiancé, dad, and sister were who I had with me at the hospital all day during labor. Their support made the day and each person had a “role”. (Well we kicked dad out when I was about to push lol). 4. I was prepared to be flexible. At one point during labor baby required more monitoring. I trus...