what to expect in labor and delivery

This is my take-away from the book:
- have a birth plan, but things probably won't go as planned
- each labor, each person is different.  Some fast, some slow, some hard, some relatively easy - there is no way of predicting how yours will be, so just relax.
- tips for the coach: you may need to massage your partner one minute, but not touch her the next.  You should be her cheerleader, unless she thinks you're annoying which she may after as labor gets harder.  Sometimes you should talk to her and distract her, but sometimes you shouldn't.  Basically, read her mind or be ready to flip you actions from one extreme to the next in a matter of seconds.
- in the end, you'll have a baby in your arms and you might feel any emotion and this is normal.
- we wrote this book because we know most women have type-A personalities and want to control this uncontrollable event, so this book is really a ruse for your mind so you can feel like you know what to expect, even though you really couldn't ever imagine or predict how your experience will be . . . so good luck.

My added Turkey-factor:
- I'm not sure all these people who say they're coming to visit realize that I may not have the baby tomorrow, I could be one of those marathon labors.  Oh, I hope not.
- Tolga's mom thought she was coming with us to the hospital.  What did she think she was going to do there?
- Tolga's dad also thought he was coming with - what exactly do they imagine labor and delivery to be like?  He thinks we will be embarrassed because we are all alone . . .
- Sometimes, I already feel alone.
- Communication is going to be hard, even with my husband because that's what stress and pain and language barriers do.
- Did you know they don't give the baby a bath after he's born?  Just a random ending note.