My list of "Do's/Don'ts" for Labor & Delivery:

DO:

• GET THE EPIDURAL - don't try and be Superman - get the epidural! It was the single-handedly best thing EVER. You truly won't feel a thing (well except for the injection itself), which is a great thing during those difficult contractions, and it will help you sleep and be generally relaxed. So when the time comes to push your brains out, you will be ready.
• Push like you are doing #2, instead of pushing like you are peeing. That was the best advice I got regarding labor and thank God I did. This would be why my delivery only lasted 45 minutes...
• Get a frozen pad from a nurse. If you are not offered a frozen maxi pad after delivery, by all means ask a nurse if they have them. I had no idea they even existed until my nurse offered it up. Sounds weird, but feels like HEAVEN. They unwrap a maxi pad, pour water in it, and then freeze it. You can then stick that on top of the massive diaper they give you and it's a built in ice pack. You might go ahead and prepare some pads for home too - that way they will be there when you get home. You will totally need them!
  
• Take the stuff off the cart. And by cart, I mean the little cart the baby comes from the nursery in. There are blankets, onesies, diapers, etc. Take all of these things before you leave the hospital. Especially snag the blankets - they are great for use in the baby's crib once they are home. And this is really important - see if you can snag an extra "snot-sucker", the little bulb things that are made for cleaning out their noses. No matter where you look, you will never find one that works as well as this one. And this comes in extra handy when you get home and the baby's room is on a different floor.
• Also snag the feeding/changing sheet that was used in the hospital for keeping track of how much the baby has eaten and how many diapers were changed. It comes in extra handy when you get home and you are too tired to remember ANYTHING. Just look at the list. Granted, you have to fill in the sheet as you go along, but it's much easier than trying to remember stuff at different times of the day.
  
• Pay extra close attention to the discharge nurse who is explaining a ton of things to you. She covered them quite fast, but we caught the most important parts and thank God we did. We were so much better prepared for when we got home.
  

DON'T:

• Become too reliant on pain medications of the strong variety. Stick with Motrin or Advil, anything really over-the-counter. The sooner you can control pain, the faster you can check out. Plus, it was hard for me to keep track of when I took the Motrin since I was worrying about keeping track of a feeding schedule and diaper issues.
• Keep your baby in your room at the hospital around the clock at first. For us, we spent about an hour or so with him when we were sent to our room, but then sent him to the nursery for the nurses to do their business and for us to get some sleep. Once we took a couple hour power nap, we requested him back with us. And that's where he stayed until we checked out!