Do you feel confident about coping with the intensity of labour?  Are you prepared to take 100% responsibility for your birth preparation?  Whilst you can't control how labour will unfold you can control your skill set and develop a variety of resources that you can use regardless of what is going on around you. These labour skills are just not taught enough despite the fact that good childbirth preparation has been shown to reduce caesarean rates as well as the use of epidurals.   Yes, its good to have support from the outside - partners, midwives, doulas, but the real empowerment lies in you having skills that you've practised and know are effective because at the end of the day its YOU who is giving birth.

Do you notice how you breathe?  If you haven't done yoga before you may not be aware of your breath at all.  So many women give me feedback that it was by using the breath consciously that they managed labour so its really worth spending...