First Time UC'er With Questions

I would go to www.unassistedchildbirth.com

This is Laura Shanley's UC website--which is a treasure in itself. But, from the homepage, you can go to the join discussions link and you'll get to Bornfree, the discussion forum that Laura hosts. Bornfree has compiled a ton of info about UC that is well-organized--you will find most everything you need to know there

Of course, this is a good place for support and info, too--I just find that Bornfree has the info categorized and organized in such a way that a person can fairly easily get a 'basic course' in UC. The mods there will also help direct you as you learn your way around the site and particular questions may arise.

all the best on your journey!

There are lots of good sites that will help you with that stuff, but I can tell you my personal experience.

The mess -- disposable chux pads. I put a bunch on the bed, overlapping (and the bed had an old sheet on it, with a shower curtain underneath -- after the birth, we just pulled it all off and had a clean, nice sheet ready to go), and then after my water broke, I put a few pads on the floor where I was pacing back and forth. We just changed pads as needed. A load of laundry and a couple of trash bags, and that was it for cleaning up the mess. Seriously no big deal.

Options for pushing positions -- whatever you want and feels right to you! I birthed my first two babies side-lying and anticipated doing that again, but when the time came, I happened to be lying mostly on my back and couldn't move. I never in a million years would have said that was a good position, but it was fine -- baby came out in a couple of pushes, very fast, and I didn't tear. If there's a concern about shoulders sticking, you can get on hands and knees.

Measuring stages of labor -- I checked my own dilation a couple of times just for the novelty of it. I couldn't really estimate centimeters, but I could tell that something had changed. For a while, labor was fairly easy, and then it was a bit harder, and then the last hour was really hard. I was fairly certain that I was in transition then, and the things I was saying and feeling were hallmark transitions.

When to push -- IME, it's uncontrollable when it's really and truly time to push. I did push a couple of times after my water broke, in hopes of bringing the baby down a bit (he was still very high at that point), and then my contractions started ending in pushes, which I couldn't help. When he hit my perineum, I felt a very strong urge to push, so I did, and his head came right out. I tried to push again but couldn't without another contraction, but while we were waiting for another one, DS just slid out the rest of the way into DH's hands. I don't think I even pushed, and if there was another contraction, I didn't notice it. Your body will do the job when it's time, even if you do nothing.