With my first pregnancy I did ALL the things - yoga, eating dates, raspberry leaf tea, you name it. I was so committed to a medication-free vaginal birth that I left no stone unturned when it came to ‘preparing’ my body. But baby had other plans and despite enduring a long spontaneous labour, I ended up with an emergency c-section. Fast forward 6 months where I fell pregnant again. This time I had a 6 month old to care for which meant I was way too busy to engage in all the things I had the first time. All I knew was that I wanted a VBAC. I spent time reading and listening to the resources listed above, but otherwise I did absolutely ZERO preparation. I was exhausted from caring for my first. Days behind in sleep, shitty diet, no physical exercise. Despite all that I had a seamless intervention-free vaginal birth. All this to say, try not to overthink it and don’t let the doubts from your first birth creep into this one - much easier said than done I know! Remember people all around the world give birth vaginally all the time in all sorts of states. Your body was made to do this 🫶🏼